


The Advantages of Persistence

by BizarreDreamer



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: All pairings besides Drarry are side pairings, HP: EWE, Hogwarts Eighth Year, Humor, M/M, Oblivious Harry, Persistent Draco, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-23
Updated: 2016-03-22
Packaged: 2018-02-22 06:58:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 49,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2498810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BizarreDreamer/pseuds/BizarreDreamer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Draco has decided that after two years of a truce, a war, and an entirely too oblivious Gryffindor, he's going to go for what he really wants in his life; Harry Potter. Harry really just wanted a normal year at Hogwarts, but Malfoy asking to be his friend is likely to complicate that a bit. A/U Where Dumbledore, Fred, & Snape live, along with some others.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there! This is a side story I'm working on at the moment. It'll probably have between 10k and 25k words when it's finished. I'll be posting it on ff.net under Bizarre Dreamer as well! The rating might go up in future chapters, but for now it will stay. Enjoy!

When Malfoy had approached Harry at the beginning of their Eighth Year wanting to turn the truce the two had shared while working together for the Order during previous years into an actual friendship, Harry was more than a little concerned about Malfoy’s mental health. They’d spent a lot of time together since their sixth year when Malfoy had come, along with Professor Snape, to Harry and Dumbledore for help. Harry knew that ultimately the work the two of them had done together had been more than a little instrumental in the destruction of Voldemort the year previous. He understood the truce, and could even admit that Malfoy and some of the other Slytherins weren’t half bad when you weren’t the target of their teasing. Malfoy wanting to be friends was something that Harry was having more than a little trouble understanding. 

That brought Harry to where he was currently, sitting in a rather empty compartment on the train (Ron and Hermione were back to Prefect duties) with Malfoy sitting across from him, leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees and watching Harry expectantly. He’d finished his rather long winded rant about how the two of them should take the truce further and actually be friends at least four minutes ago, and he now appeared to simply be watching Harry and waiting for his reaction. 

Harry wasn’t exactly sure what to say, since he didn’t really know what to make of the situation. Malfoy could be sincere…or he might be setting up one hell of an elaborate joke. Though, in all honesty, he’d learned that Malfoy tended to be open and sincere first, and only if that failed was he likely to attempt to destroy you. It was something about the other boy that had taken Harry more than a year of constant exposure to a friendly Malfoy to figure out, and he likely wouldn’t have at all if Parkinson hadn’t let slip that Harry’s rejection of the other boy’s friendship in their first year had gotten to Malfoy more than he had wanted to admit. 

He shook his head, looking the blond boy over curiously before voicing the only thought he could likely say without severely offending him. “But why?”

The head of light hair tilted to the side slowly, and the storm grey eyes searched Harry’s face curiously. Harry couldn’t honestly tell if the boy found what he was looking for or not, because a second later he had turned to the window and was watching the vast green and blue of the world outside pass them by. 

He finally spoke, startling Harry minutely, “The better question, Potter dear, is ‘why not’. We have spent a great deal of our time together the last two years. We know each other the same way friends would, by now. Does it not make sense to have one more friend, someone who is uninterested in your fame and sees you not as the ‘Boy-Who-Lived’, but rather just as you actually are?”

“Careful Malfoy, that was dangerously close to making sense. I meant more on the lines of why would you want to? What are you expecting out of a friendship with me?” Harry asked uncertainly. It didn’t come up often, mostly because Harry had other friends looking out for him, but occasionally someone tried to befriend him because of who he was and what they thought he could do for them. 

His former nemesis rolled his eyes, “Honestly Potter, it wounds me so to think that you would believe such a thing of me!” Harry didn’t, not really, but he wasn’t about to tell the blond git that. “I wish to gain nothing but the pleasure of your company, you great oaf. It would seem that I may have actually grown accustomed to your presence in my life and find that you provide a sort of entertainment only a Gryffindor with your particular sense of humor can provide.”

“And that,” Harry said, “sounded vaguely close to a compliment. Are you feeling alright, Malfoy? You haven’t fallen and hit your head recently, have you?”

Malfoy snorted, “You’re impossible Potter. Is it really so impossible to believe that I would want to be your friend? And I’m not completely incapable of giving a compliment, you know.”

He’d always sort of doubted that last bit, but in the last few months of the war had been surprised to find that Malfoy actually could give out compliments. It was just that his standards tended to be so high that he wasn’t often surprised enough, or pleased enough, by something someone had done to give out compliments. Harry strongly suspected he’d learned that from Professor Snape. As for being his friend…well, maybe that was left over from eight years ago when Malfoy had asked for a very similar thing. The difference was that neither of them were children anymore. They were men who had lived through a war, had seen death, and had fought for their lives as well as the lives of others. If they could do all of that without killing each other…

With a shrug and a sigh, Harry told him, “Well, alright, I guess. I suspect you’d just badger me until I gave into your weird idea anyways.”

There was a rather disturbing gleam in Malfoy’s eyes now that Harry thought would make the Headmaster rather proud. “You do know me well after all, Harry.” It took him a moment to place the tone of voice that Malfoy was using, but he finally pegged it as pleased with a hint of smugness shoved in as well. Harry strongly suspected that he was going to regret going along with Malfoy on this, or at the very least end up in more than one thoroughly horrid situation. Being friends with Malfoy was probably going to be his grand and terrifying adventure during his last year at Hogwarts. And here he’d actually been hoping for a quiet and calm last year at the school.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is actually going to turn out to be a pretty long story as I'm already 13k words into it. I only looked over this one once, and I don't currently have a beta, so sorry for any mistakes! I'm also working on this for NaNoWriMo, so updates won't be super fast, but they shouldn't drag out too much either. Enjoy!

The first week back at Hogwarts was as chaotic as Harry had thought it would be, and despite sharing the Eighth Year boys’ dorm with Malfoy, Harry had so little contact with him those first few days that he had almost forgotten the encounter. As it was, the only reason that he wasn’t able to put it out of his mind entirely was because of the odd glances the blond kept sending him. They weren’t overt, and the one time he had mentioned it to Ron and Hermione they had shrugged it off. They’d said that a lot of people were looking at him, and why should Malfoy be any different? As long as the prat wasn’t causing them any problems, his two best friends seemed inclined to ignore the blond most of the time.

Of course, just because Harry was back to being his oblivious self, Draco Malfoy was certainly doing the opposite. Draco spent quite a lot of time watching Harry, not that he would actually admit it. Though, if he was being honest at least with himself, he’d spent most of his spare time during the war watching the dark haired boy quite closely. And then there had been the several years before in school where he had watched him as well. Regardless of what he might have told everyone, including Potter himself, he did find the other boy quite fascinating, Gryffindor attributes and all. 

Draco had spent the summer months debating on what to do about his apparent fondness for the Gryffindor, and had finally realized that it was more than a simple affection. Quite simply, his heart had decided (without his permission, clearly) that it wanted Potter, and no one else was going to suffice. The first step in attracting the other boy’s attention had gone better than he had expected at first. Gaining Potter’s friendship, at least on the surface, had been as simple as confounding him (no spell work needed there) and being both as persuasive and persistent as he usually was when going after something he wanted. The other boy had caved and accepted his friendship rather easily, really, and Draco was happily counting it as a victory, and step one complete in winning Harry Potter’s heart. 

There were several other steps in his plan, but he doubted that all of them would go quite as smoothly as the first. Despite years of watching him, Potter didn’t always react the way Draco, or anyone else expected him to. That was one of the things that he found so interesting about him; even those that knew him well were often surprised by the way he reacted to certain situations. One of the most recent examples was when the youngest Weasley decided that she was no longer interested in dating the most eligible wizard of their time. Or, perhaps second most eligible if you were including Draco himself in that category. Everyone had expected him to be devastated or put up a fight, but he’d only smiled, mentioned something about how she was more like a sister, and went on his merry way. That had been during the last Order celebration both Potter and Draco had attended during the summer. After that, everyone had expected Potter to find someone else to date quickly, but he hadn’t shown any interest in dating anyone that Draco had heard of. That worked out well for Draco; at least for the moment, at any rate. 

Draco was currently sitting in the Eighth Year common room pretending to work on his Potions essay. He was actually making a mental list of ways to put his second step of his plan into motion that wouldn’t be too obvious and garner unwanted attention to what he was doing. Step two involved spending time with Potter in a setting that wasn’t a classroom or the Great Hall at dinner. Eighth Years had been set apart from the rest of school because of the unusual circumstances, and so they sat apart from their houses at a small table that was added to the Great Hall just for them. It was a welcome change, as far as Draco was concerned. Most of the rest of the school simply weren’t sure how to react to most of them anymore, so sitting with the younger students was more often than not uncomfortable. 

Draco wasn’t getting as far as he would have liked trying to come up with a way that wouldn’t seem suspicious to spend time with Potter. He was just about to give up on plotting for the time being and actually work on his Potions when Potter himself walked into the common room, Granger and Weasley stumbling after him rather gracelessly, most likely because the two of them were half twined around each other. They seemed to be doing that a lot lately, Draco had noted. The trio had quickly made their way to a table near the fire, and Granger appeared to be attempting to get the two boys to work on their school work rather than play chess, which they seemed more inclined to do. 

Draco turned slightly so he could still see them out of the corner of his eye, and tuned out the slight noise of the other people in the common room to listen to them. It wasn’t as though Granger was trying to be quiet when she let out an exasperated huff and said, “Honestly you two, it’s no wonder you get such abysmal marks when neither of you are willing to study!”

Potter had the nerve to actually look offended, “Hermione, my marks have been just fine, thanks! Just because I don’t want to spend my entire year huddled over one book or another doesn’t mean that I’ll get bad marks.”

Draco watched in amusement as Granger rolled her eyes at her friend and Weasley started edging away from them both. “Harry, I know you don’t want to spend your entire year studying, but N.E.W.T.s are important. And what about Potions? It’s your worst subject, and since Professor Snape has gone back to teaching Potions and left DADA to Professor Kinley you don’t have a hope of passing unless you really start working on it.”

Weasley finally decided to weigh in, “You should have just dropped the class like I did. George said he’ll work with me on any sort of things I’ll need to know working in the shop, and I get the bonus of not having to deal with the Dungeon Bat of Doom.”

“Not all of us are going to work in a business our family owns, Ron. And just because George is your brother doesn’t mean you shouldn’t work hard to make sure that you can actually be an asset to the shop, you know!” Granger told him, brandishing a book at him and looking as if she wanted to smack him with it. 

Potter snorted rather inelegantly, “I think you should be more worried about Ron’s grades than mine. I’ll manage Potions, one way or another. I always manage to, somehow.”

He did have a point there, Draco thought. He didn’t know how the dark haired boy studied as little as it seemed he did and still passed his classes. He’d always assumed that Granger had a good deal to do with the other two Gryffindorks passing their exams, but after working closely with all of them, he knew better now. The two boys might not study or put nearly as much into getting good marks as he and Granger did, but they were every bit as intelligent, though perhaps not in the same ways. Weasley, he’d quickly discovered, was a strategic genius and nearly as good at defense as Potter was. Potter, on the other hand, was capable of quick learning (when it was something he wanted to learn) and amazing at setting up wards that were nearly impenetrable. Without those wards, Draco was fairly certain he would have been dead at least three times over. That was just scratching the surface of the Golden Trio, though the only interest he had in two thirds of the trio was appeasing Potter. 

Draco realized with a start that he had missed a rather large part of their conversation, but apparently all he had missed was Granger continuing to pester Potter about his Potions skill, or lack thereof. Potter had always been pants at Potions, but Granger was right. If he didn’t start showing major improvement in that particular area, there was no way he was going to pass Potions with Professor Snape in charge again. It occurred to Draco that this might be exactly what he needed to make step two of his plan a success. Of course, it all hinged on Potter actually caring enough about his Potions grade to accept Draco’s help, but it was still a better plan than he’d had twenty minutes before. He also realized that talking to Potter about it in front of everyone in the common room would be extremely ineffective, so he’d have to wait until he could corner the green-eyed boy alone. That, Draco decided, was likely going to be the more difficult part of his plan. 

It would be another difficult task, teaching Potter Potions skills, but it really was the perfect opportunity for Draco to get closer to the boy. Perhaps if he could get him to sit next to Draco during Potions, that might help as well. And since he was Professor Snape’s favorite student…maybe he should approach him about assigning partners this year. It was a long shot, he knew, but it was better than nothing. He decided that he would take the time out of his rather busy schedule to go and see his favorite Professor first thing the next morning.

~  
Just as he had planned, Draco was up earlier than he normally would have been. He got ready for the day as quickly and quietly as he could to avoid disturbing any of his roommates. He seemed to have succeeded too, considering that he didn’t hear any stirring behind any of the other boys’ curtains, excluding Weasley’s atrocious snoring. 

Apparently his roommates could sleep through just about anything, so he really needn't have worried. Draco was grateful for that, really, since he stubbed his toe no less than three times trying to be stealthy. He honestly hoped Potter appreciated just how much effort he put into the entire plan by the time things were all said and done. That, of course, hinged on Potter actually knowing about any of this at any point of time, and Draco wasn't sure whether or not that was a likely outcome even if they did end up together as Draco so fervently hoped for. 

By the time he made it to Professor Snape's office (he knew Snape would be there as the Potions Professor was always awake and working in his office at least an hour before breakfast) he was more than a little perturbed by the number of stairs between the Eighth Year dorms and the dungeons. Next time he was planning to visit the Professor he would try and plan for it later in the day when he was more awake and had actually eaten something, he decided as his stomach gave a growl of disapproval from the lack of breakfast.

He knocked tentatively on the door to the office and waited for the gruff "Come in" to be announced before slowly opening the door and poking his head in just the slightest bit to gauge the Professor's current mood before he allowed his body to follow him into the room. "Yes, Mr. Malfoy? To what do I owe the pleasure of your company at such an early hour?"

Draco sidled into the room, shutting the door behind him quietly and then moving to flop rather inelegantly into the chair across from the desk. His Professor gave him a rather perturbed look, raising an eyebrow in question as he watched his student. "I came to ask a favor, actually."

"Oh? And why, pray tell, would I want to grant you a favor?" Professor Snape asked rather churlishly. 

"Because this particular favor would involve less ruined potions in your class? And we all know how you hate the waste of ingredients that comes from such horrid potions," Draco said coaxingly, grinning slightly at Professor Snape who was now watching him with more rapt attention.

"And how do you plan to deliver such a thing? Longbottom has given up my class, after all. The only other problem student I have is Potter, and you couldn't possibly be suggesting tutoring him," he said, watching the boy in front of him with calculating eyes.

 

The Slytherin allowed a slightly devious smile to spread slowly across his face before he answered, "But that's exactly what I mean. We both know that without some serious help the boy won't pass Potions, and regardless of the Weasel's views on the subject, it is rather important to at least know the basics. Since I have recently taken on the role of Potter's newest friend, and the only one of them equipped to be any help to him in the subject, it falls to me to make sure he can pass the class."

Snape gave a small shake of his head, giving his favorite student a look of exasperation. "And does Potter know that you intend to be the one to help him?"

"He will soon enough. I thought I would ease him into it," Draco said, watching the Potions Master cautiously. He knew that Professor Snape had never truly liked Potter, and as long as he didn't interfere with Draco getting what he wanted, then he really didn't care about that. He was prepared to make a nuisance of himself to get his way in this matter, though.

"And what, precisely, makes you think I would help you with this endeavor? Surely you know by now that I would absolutely love Potter to fail out of my class," the older man told him with his eyes narrowed in something like contempt.

Draco snorted, "Yes yes, we're all quite aware that you hate having a Potter in your class. After the war, you'd think you could give up on the blind hate there. Regardless, I have plans concerning Potter, plans that need his trust and belief in our budding friendship to work out properly. The favor I need is for you to assign Potions partners for the year."

"You'll want to be paired with Potter, I presume?"

A raised eyebrow was aimed at the Professor, "Of course. There's the incentive of pairing people up in the worst possible partnerships to upset the largest amount of students possible there as well. Imagine all of the terror you can invoke in your students with it!"

Apparently taking a moment to turn the possibilities over in his mind, Snape waved his hand slightly in a dismissive manner, "Fine, but I would like to know exactly what you plan to do to Potter. I may still dislike the boy, but he has been through rather a lot, just as the rest of us have been. If you intend to do something harmful to him..."

Draco cut in, looking rather offended, "Honestly Professor, I have no intentions of doing any such thing. None of my plans for him involve hurting him in any way, shape, or form, if you must know. Potter is a much better friend than he is enemy, as many of us have learned, and I value him greatly." He was more than a little concerned about telling the Potions Master even that much, but Draco wanted him to do as he asked, and if that involved giving more information than he had originally planned to, he could deal with that, at least for the moment. There were things worse than being mocked by Severus Snape. There weren't many things worse than it, but those things still existed.

His teacher surprised him, though, when instead of a cutting remark all he got was a slight nod of a black haired head and a thoughtful expression aimed his way. "Very well, then. I shall, just this once, help you with your plans for Mr. Potter. I suggest you take as much advantage of it as you can. Now, run along to breakfast, I still have work to do before I can do the same."

Rolling his eyes, Draco got up and made his way to the door, murmuring a thank you to the man as he slipped out of the room. As happy as he was that his plans were unfolding rather seamlessly, he knew that he shouldn't allow himself to be lulled into a false sense of security. Other people might be doing things to make his plans fall into place, but Merlin knew if anyone had the ability to muck it up, it would be Potter himself.

Breakfast turned out to be a quiet affair at the Eighth Year table that morning. Most everyone was dragging their feet and unprepared for another day full of classes after a weekend full of studying. While everyone else seemed ready to fall asleep in their food, Draco ate without really paying much attention to what he was eating, his thoughts full of ways to help improve his new Potions partner's skills. He hoped fervently that Potter would see the good sense in working on Potions with him, even outside of the classroom. Extra Potions projects would be a great way for them to have one on one time without his friends paying attention to their every move. It would be a good way for him to get to know Potter on a more personal level as well, outside the goings on of a war, at any rate. He probably knew Harry Potter at least as well as most of the boy's friends did, with as much time as the two of them had been forced to spend together. Still, getting to know what someone was like outside of a highly stressful situation was an entirely different thing all together. 

He knew that there was also the possibility that after all of this, and getting to know him better, he might find that he didn't care nearly as much for him as his heart told him, or that he cared even more for Potter than he had previously thought. There was simply no way to know what was going to happen until something actually did happen. His first chance at seeing how things might play out would be Potions, which they had first thing that morning. Realizing that it was nearly time for him to head down to the dungeons for that particular class, he finished the last bites of food that were on his plate and gathered his things to make his way to the classroom, hoping earnestly that things wouldn't turn out to be a complete disaster.

~ 

Harry noticed during breakfast that something was different from usual, but at first he couldn't pin down what it might be. It took him several minutes to realize that it was actually that Malfoy wasn't joining in with the usual banter of the group of friends he always sat with at meals. Parkinson, Zabini, Bulstrode, and Goyle had all come back, and usually they talked with a couple of the Hufflepuffs during breakfast, but the entire group was more subdued than usual.

Malfoy himself seemed to be more self-absorbed than normal that morning, staring at what appeared to be a whole lot of nothing, as far as Harry could see, but smiling to himself none the less. Honestly, he was a bit worried what that expression on Malfoy's face might mean for some poor unsuspecting student during the day, but it was rare for Malfoy to turn his plotting on Harry these days, so he supposed that he shouldn’t worry too much, really. It was much more likely that the target of that suspicious look would be a professor that he didn't much care for or a younger student that had annoyed the blond one too many times recently. Both possibilities were equally likely, as far as Harry knew.

He was still so absorbed over who Malfoy's next target might have been that he didn't pay much attention to the journey to Potions and merely plopped down into the seat next to Hermione when they reached the classroom. He missed the smirk Malfoy directed his way, and consequently also missed the odd look Hermione gave Malfoy as well. He didn't miss the sneer pasted across his least favorite teacher's face, though.

Snape stood at the front of the classroom as he always did, and glared at the students until all noise ceased in the room. Harry had secretly been kind of jealous of that ability that seemed to come so naturally the last couple of years. He could have really used something like that when he was trying to get something across to a bunch of adults who didn't want to listen during the war. Regardless, it was a pretty neat ability to have, even if it was sort of terrifying half the time.

"Today, before we begin with our lesson, I have decided to put all of you into pairs for the rest of the year. I believe that some of you would benefit greatly from having a partner to work with for the year. I will expect you to study and do your assignments with the partner I assign you for the rest of the year. You will not be permitted to switch partners. Whichever person I assign as your partner will be your partner for the rest of the year with no exceptions excluding death and expulsion," Professor Snape stared harshly around the classroom to dispel the small noises of protest that were rising up from his students.

After a moment everyone quieted and he began speaking again, "When I call out your names, please move yourselves to sit with your partner at once. Miss Granger and Miss Bulstrode, Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Potter, Mr. Goyle and Mr. Thomas..." 

Harry had pretty much stopped paying attention to the names being called out when he realized that he'd been paired with Malfoy of all people, and instead was having a minor panic attack. Just because Malfoy had decided that he wanted to try out being friends didn't mean that the two of them would be well suited as Potions partners. He was relatively sure that Snape was actually only doing this to try and sabotage any chance of Harry passing this class at all. But then, he could have put him with Goyle or one of the other less adept students instead of putting his best student with Harry, which is exactly what he had done. 

While Harry was trying to decide if there was a grand conspiracy at work, Hermione had left to sit with her new partner after patting Harry gently on the arm, and Malfoy had taken her place without Harry noticing for several moments. When he did notice it was only because Malfoy dropped his book rather loudly onto the desk where Harry had let his head drop without his knowledge.

"Get it together Potter, there's actually a chance you'll not fail Potions this year now,” Malfoy said in what might actually have been a teasing tone of voice.

It just made Harry groan and wonder exactly who he'd pissed off recently to get stuck with Malfoy for the rest of the year in his least favorite class. On the up side, he was right and Harry might actually have a shot at making it through this year with a decent grade. He really hoped that the other boy was sincere about that friendship he'd wanted so badly, because if he wasn't and it really was an elaborate scheme than Harry was seriously screwed. Beyond screwed, probably, but he just had to start praying to every deity he could think of that Malfoy would be a help and not a hindrance to him in this class. 

A sharp jab to his ribs brought Harry back to the present rather quickly, and he jerked his head up to glare halfheartedly at Malfoy who grinned at him in a way that said he was getting exactly what he wanted and wasn't that just weird. "Come on Potter," his former nemesis said in a rather persuasive voice, "Go fetch the ingredients, won't you? I'll start getting things set up. Maybe you'll actually learn something this year."

"Doubt it," Harry grumbled under his breath and made his way to the supply cupboard. Harry had the thought that perhaps since Harry was working with his favorite student this year he wouldn't take nearly as many points away from Gryffindor, only to remember that the Eighth Years couldn't gain or lose any points from their former houses. They were sort of the odd group out in every area this year. They couldn't play Quidditch for the House teams either, but they could help them train. Just another point on the list of things that were really different this year.

He made quick work of gathering the ingredients they would need, and even double checked them against the list that Malfoy had thrust into his hand before he'd left their work space, before he took them back to their station. He took a couple of minutes to rearrange them into the order in which they would be used in the potion. It wasn't until that was done that he noticed that Malfoy was watching him rather closely. 

Harry quirked a brow at him, "What? Did I get something wrong already?"

The other boy shook his head, "Not at all, I was actually sort of surprised that you brought back exactly what was on the list, right down to the amount."

"I actually can read and count, Malfoy," Harry said, half snarling the words and glaring quite fiercely at his partner. It was going to be an exceptionally long year if they couldn't get past this sort of stupidity. 

Blond hair swept back and forth as the head it was attached too shook, "Not what I meant at all Potter. It's just that...I didn't think you usually paid quite that much attention in class, even when the instructions were written. I certainly didn't expect you to be so exact with it." Malfoy paused for a moment, staring at Harry from underneath his pale fringe. When he spoke again, the words were softer, his voice pitched lower so that only Harry could discern the words he spoke, "Sometimes, I have trouble remembering reconciling the careful exact person you were during battles and strategy meetings with the student you were years ago. Which is ridiculous, but there you have it. I really wasn't trying to be rude or offensive, honestly, even if it came out that way. I hope you'll forgive me."

Green eyes stared into grey for several moments before Harry nodded. He decided that he should choose his next words as carefully as Malfoy had, though he doubted he would ever be half as elegant with words as the other boy was. "I guess I can forgive you. I shouldn't have been so ready to take offense to it either, really. And I know what you mean. Sometimes it's difficult to remember that you really aren't still the prat you were before the war. I guess maybe we both just need to work harder at remembering that we really are different people now."

After that the two of them were able to work together peacefully for the rest of the class, successfully making their potion without any mishaps to speak of. When they finished a good fifteen minutes before the rest of the class, Malfoy actually started to go over the theory with Harry, and for the first time in at least three years, Harry could actually understand what he was being taught in Potions. If Malfoy could keep going this way, Harry thought he really would be able to pass the class with pretty good marks. It was more than he had originally hoped for that year.

~

After dinner Draco sat in the common room talking to Pansy who had noticed that something was going on with her friend, even if he was attempting to be incredibly secretive about it. In the end, Draco ended up telling her almost everything (some things were simply best kept to himself) about his feelings for Potter and his plans to make the boy his own. 

Pansy didn't appear at all surprised by the development, if the resigned look on her face was anything to go by. "I can't say I'm surprised, Draco dear. Honestly, the two of you have been obsessed with each other in one way or another since First Year. It makes sense that it would evolve. Especially after the way the two of you worked together for the last couple of years. You made a great team then, and I'm sure you'll be great together eventually. That is, of course, if Potter ever manages to find a clue. Honestly, the boy is so far beyond oblivious that you could probably put up a banner confessing your infatuation for him on his bed and he wouldn't notice it."

"I had noticed. That's why there are so many steps to the plan. I really hope it doesn't come to a banner. That's just ostentatious and a bit ridiculous. At any rate, I hope I can count on you to be discreet about this Pansy," Draco said, adding a slightly threatening tone to his voice so that she knew he was serious.

His friend glared at him, rather ineffectually, he thought, but she was trying, "Draco, I've kept plenty of your secrets before, haven't I? Why on earth would I start telling people your secrets now? Besides, even if I was tempted, the thoughts of whatever horrible revenge you might cook up to get back at me would stop me very quickly."

He shrugged offhandedly, she was right that he would find some absolutely horrid way to get her back. He knew plenty of her secrets that he could tell, or he could do something else that would be even more embarrassing and probably quite damaging if he really wanted to. Just as he knew Potter was a better friend than enemy, he knew that he fit that description rather well too. 

"I didn't really think that you would even be tempted, but I had to mention it anyways. Now that you know about all of this, I don't suppose you can think of anything that might make it easier, or might help, to win over Potter?" he asked uncertainly. Pansy might say that she was fine with his plans for the other boy, but she was very good at hiding emotions and thoughts that she didn't want to share with others. There was a small chance that she was just humoring him with every intention of derailing his plans if the opportunity presented itself to her.

She hummed thoughtfully for a moment, "Well, I do think the move you pulled in Potions was quite genius. It's really good that you've got skill in a class that he's so terrible at, and it's a fantastic starting point...but just that isn't going to be enough. If you want him to start spending time with you alone, and actually learn something about him, just going over Potions isn't going to do it. He's a secretive sort of bloke, isn't he? He has friends, but he keeps so much of himself hidden that it's easy to think that someone really knows him, but then he reacts to a phrase or a motion in a way that is so different than the person thinks he should, that you have to question how well anyone truly knows him."

He nodded, "I had thought of that. I know it's going to take a lot of work, but that isn't going to stop me."

Pansy smiled gently at him, "I didn't think that it would. I was just reinforcing it for you. You do realize that you're going to have to make amends with the Know-it-all and the Weasel, right? You aren't going to get very far with him if you don't at least attempt peace there."

Draco let out an exasperated sigh, "Yes Pansy, I have faced that inevitability. I'll get around to it." He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully, murmuring, "I think that's actually part of step three."

 

"Just how many steps are you planning to have for this extravagant little plan?" she asked him curiously.

 

"At least five, but probably closer to ten. As you so kindly pointed out, it isn't going to be easy. More steps will be needed if he decides to be horridly stubborn, which is entirely too likely," he informed her, watching the entry to the common room so closely that he entirely missed the eye roll she sent his way. 

 

Shaking her head, she said, "You're hopelessly gone on the boy already. Just promise me you'll be careful, won't you? I don't think the Golden Boy would hurt you intentionally, but still..."

 

The slight worry in her voice actually made Draco turn to stare at her for a moment before he answered her. "I promise I'll be careful. And if he does somehow manage that, which is highly unlikely, I may even give you permission to hex him."

The two Slytherins sat in the common room idly gossiping about the other Eighth Years and Seventh Years that had come back to the school that year. It reminded Draco of the way things had been in the Slytherin common room most evenings, and it was a comforting thought. They watched the steady flow of students come in from a late dinner or studying in the library. Of course, once he spotted Potter coming in, he stopped speculating on the rumors and instead listened to Pansy drone on as he watched the boy he was so terribly interested in sit with his other friends near the fire. 

He hadn't realized that he had stopped paying attention to Pansy entirely until he noticed her waving her hand rather close to his face. He reached out with his own hand and swatted at her, "Really Pansy?"

She grinned predatorily at him, "Well you were so absorbed in Potter Watching that I was afraid that you were going to burn holes into the poor boy's head. Honestly Draco, if you keep being this obvious someone besides me is going to notice. There are a lot of people that would love a chance with him, and if any of them realize you're trying to make a very slow move on the boy, do you really think they're going to sit back and let you do it?"

"Ugh, fine, you win. I'll try to stop being so obvious. Actually, it's getting pretty late, considering I was up almost an hour earlier than normal. I think I'm just going to head up to bed for the night," he told her, gathering the small amount of things he'd had with him and standing up slowly. 

"Alright, good night then. You do look rather tired, try and get some rest. I hardly think Potter is going to look at you and want to date you if you look so horrid," Pansy taunted him, smirking at him devilishly.

"Ha ha, very funny. You're absolutely horrible to me, I don't know why I bother to put up with you. Do try and stay out of trouble, won't you?" He turned on his heel and made his way to the boys' dorm room, not bothering to wait for a response from the girl.

~

Harry watched Malfoy get up and leave the common room about an hour earlier than usual. He steadfastly ignored the fact that he actually seemed to know what time the prat usually went to bed. He’d stopped paying attention to what his friends had been talking about several minutes before, instead watching the confusing blond for several minutes and thinking about that morning’s Potions class. He’d forgotten how well the two of them could work together when they weren’t trying too hard.

He had to agree with Malfoy and Hermione that with the other boy’s help he might muster up a decent potions score. Though if he was being honest, just the limited help during the class itself wasn’t likely to teach him everything he would need to pass his N.E.W.T.s. Maybe he could convince Malfoy to actually work with him outside of class on it. Of course that would mean approaching him and hoping that he wouldn’t decide that Harry asking for his help was hilarious.

The other likelihood was that Malfoy would help him and be smug about being better than him at something. It was still odd for him to be thinking of Malfoy in a way that was almost friendly, instead of the tentative truce he’d been used to for more than two years. So much of the world had changed with the war, and the relationships between the people who had survived it were changing even more, day by day. It was both disconcerting and wonderful to witness, and even harder to be part of. Harry just hoped that the changes in his and Malfoy’s relationship would be for the good of everyone, since they appeared to be happening whether Harry wanted them to or not.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for how long it took me to update!

It actually took Harry another week of working in Potions with Malfoy before he was relatively certain that the blond boy wasn't going to pull some horrendous prank worthy of the Weasley Twins and was honestly just trying to help him. The two of them were getting better at working together cohesively, though they did still irritate each other on occasion. Malfoy's way of annoying him lately had been more along the lines of friendly teasing that he reciprocated in turn more than anything hurtful. It was just another reminder that the other boy really was serious about being friends with him. 

Harry was still pretty unsure about asking his Potions partner to work with him outside of class (he still couldn't bring himself to call it tutoring). He was pushing his food around his plate during breakfast when Hermione sat down next to him and nudged him with her elbow to get his attention. He blinked up at her, only just realizing that the table had filled up since he wandered down a half hour earlier than he usually did for breakfast.

"Harry, is there a reason that you're playing with your food instead of eating it? You're acting as though it's your first Quidditch match all over again," she told him, watching him with slightly narrowed eyes. "This doesn't have anything to do with Malfoy, does it?"

He dropped his fork to his plate in mild shock, the noise making several people turn to glance at him. He glared until they looked away, and then turned the look on Hermione. "Why the hell would it have anything to do with him? In case you hadn't noticed, he's been on the best behavior I think I've ever seen out of him."

"So it does have something to do with him. I was actually wondering about his improved attitude. He seems to be spending a lot of time in Potions making sure that you understand exactly what you're working on. I sort of thought that he would just insist that he do all of the work he didn't think you could do competently," she said, using such a matter of fact tone that Harry almost didn't catch the insult to his intelligence. He didn't take it personally, Hermione didn't really think anyone was as smart as she was, and maybe no one was. 

He glowered at her for several seconds, hoping she would take the hint and drop the conversation, but when she just continued to watch him back he sighed. "Honestly, it's exactly what it seems like, from what I can tell. He really is just explaining things so I understand them better."

There was silence for several moments while she ate, a thoughtful look pasted to her face, which wasn't unusual in the least. "It's just, well; Malfoy doesn't do that for anyone. Or, he hasn't before now, anyways." Harry raised both eyebrows at her, trying to communicate that she wasn't being very articulate. She flushed slightly at the look, continuing on in a rush, "I mean, he doesn't even usually help his friends study. And a year ago, I really don't think he would have helped you at all with it. So, it just stands to reason that maybe he's doing it as a means to a different end."

Harry shook his head, staring at his friend in disbelief, "Hermione, I thought we'd all concluded that Malfoy was no longer up to anything. You can't honestly tell me you actually think that he's plotting something sinister after everything the last couple of years."

"Oh for the love of..." she huffed, staring at him in disbelief. “Harry, that wasn't what I meant at all. Has it, at any point, occurred to you that Malfoy might actually like you?"

He actually surprised her when he mumbled, "Of course he does. He asked to be friends, didn't he? I don't think he would have made a big deal about that if he didn't like me enough to want to spend time with me...which is weird but whatever."

Well, the surprise at him being perceptive was short lived at any rate. "Harry, you do realize that Malfoy is bisexual, don't you?" she asked him tentatively. 

"What does that have to do with anything?" he mumbled, incomprehension etched across his face. Instead of answering right away, Hermione just watched him expectantly for a moment while Harry tried to think why Malfoy's sexuality had anything to do with the git helping him in Potions. It took him several moments before he caught on, turning a rather horrified look to his friend, "You can't be serious! You can't actually believe that Malfoy is trying to get into my pants!"

"Of course not, Harry," she said soothingly, and he relaxed the smallest bit, "I'm saying he's actually interested in dating you. I don't think he'd be putting all this effort in if he just wanted a quick shag."

Ron found them a moment later with Hermione looking smug and Harry staring balefully at his mutilated breakfast. "Uh, what did I miss?" he asked the two of them uncertainly. It wasn't too often that he stumbled into scenes like this one, and Ron was in unfamiliar territory dealing with it, whatever it was.

"Oh, nothing much," his girlfriend told him cheerfully, "Just helping Harry come to some important realizations."

Ron watched as his best friend stabbed at a bit of sausage especially hard while muttering, "Helping my arse," violently under his breath. 

"Right," Ron said as he started in on his own breakfast, "I don't think I actually want to know." Ron wasn’t nearly as stupid as people liked to believe, and he knew that Hermione had been watching Malfoy and Harry in Potions lately because she’d mentioned how the blond git was helping Harry do better in the class on more than one occasion. He was pretty sure whatever had happened at the table before he got there had something to do with that, and the way that Harry flushed when Malfoy sat down a few places away from him told him he was right. Well, nothing he could do about the awkward situation for now…

~  
Harry spent the entire walk down to the dungeons for their Potions class trying to come to terms with the talk Hermione had forced on him during breakfast. Honestly, he couldn't care less about anyone's sexuality as a whole; it simply didn't matter to him usually. But Hermione insisting that Malfoy might actually be interested in him made him even more nervous about Potions than he usually was. He doubted it was actually true, but Hermione was usually right. It just meant that he would have to pay special attention to the way other boy acted in class to see whether or not there was something to what his friend had been saying. It was more likely that she was just misinterpreting the blond, Harry convinced himself as he sat down in his usual spot. 

Malfoy came in just a moment later, sitting down next to him and yawning widely. "You look entirely too awake this morning Potter," he informed Harry quietly.

He rolled his eyes, "I've been up for almost two hours already. I certainly wasn't the last one to stumble down to breakfast this morning."

"Yeah, well some of us were up horribly late trying to figure out that damned Defense essay. I'm no longer overly fond of Kinley. There's too much damned theory this year," Malfoy grumbled at him, sounding more peevish than Harry had heard him in a while.

He wasn't quite sure what to say to that. Harry hadn't realized that the other boy had problems with Defense. Finally, he said, "I take it it's just working on the theory that gives you trouble? I've never seen you have trouble actually working out a spell for Defense."

One blond brow rose up towards his hairline, "Have you been watching me, Potter?" Harry flushed just slightly and narrowed his eyes at the other boy, getting ready to say something in retaliation, when Malfoy sighed and continued, "You're right, more or less. Some of the more complex spells take me longer, but I get hung up on some of the theory behind it. I either always end up simplifying it too much or making it out to be much more complex than it actually is."

Harry nodded, understanding completely. It was a similar problem that he had with Potions, and occasionally Transfiguration, though he was a lot better at the latter than he had been before the war. "I know what you mean. I don't have that problem with Defense, but I have it in other areas."

"I had noticed. Though you are doing infinitely better in this class, at least, now that you have a competent partner." Here he stopped to consider his dark haired friend for a moment, making him fidget nervously while he waited for the other boy to continue on whatever tangent was forming in his mind. It didn't take him long to pick it back up as he turned to face Harry more fully and said, "I don't suppose that you'd like to trade some of your abundance of Defense knowledge for some Potions help?"

He stared uncertainly at the other boy for a moment, thinking. This was exactly what he had been considering when he'd thought of asking for help, with the added bonus of him having knowledge to give in return. Even better was the fact that Malfoy was the one to suggest it, rather than him, which made the situation less awkward for him at least. Finally he said, "Yeah, I guess that would be alright. It's not like I couldn't use the extra help here."

He was rewarded with a nearly blinding smile that Harry was pretty sure he'd never seen from Malfoy before that exact moment. They might have continued discussing it, but Professor Snape had chosen that exact moment to sweep into the room in a flurry of black robes and cut their conversation short. Harry knew that the still grinning boy wouldn't forget and would likely be waiting after classes to accost him in the common room to work out a study schedule. He paid even more attention that day to the other boy's reactions to him and to other people to see if he could find what Hermione had insisted was there. The only hint he'd even seen was the one bright smile, and Harry didn't think that actually constituted attraction. He decided that Hermione was just seeing what she wanted to see, and if that was the case then it wasn't something he needed to worry about, at least not for the time being.

The rest of his classes went surprisingly well, and lunch was a rather quiet affair with Hermione spending the entire time with her nose stuck in one book or another and Ron talking quietly to him about the Quidditch teams for that year. He was feeling pretty good about his day, and had barely thought about the Malfoy study situation since Potions. He was maybe just a little concerned about spending as much time with the other boy as the studying for two classes was likely to bring about, but in the grand scheme of things it was certainly going to be better than him failing Potions.

He had been right in his earlier assumption that Malfoy would likely want to speak to him after classes in the common room. Most of the Eighth Years had nearly three hours between their last class of the day that day and dinner, since most of them weren't taking the full amount of classes that year, so it was common practice for most of them to go back to their common room or the library to get studying done. 

Malfoy was sitting in his usual spot at one of the tables closest to the fireplace when Harry and Ron walked in. Harry wasn't actually sure how the blond had beaten the two of them back considering that they shared nearly every class that year, but somehow he had and was sitting there looking rather expectantly at Harry. He'd had the good sense to inform Ron about studying with Malfoy during lunch, and oddly enough the red head hadn't made a fuss about it. Instead he'd made a comment about how good it was that Harry was actually taking initiative to pass the class that year. It was odd for him to see Ron take on such a responsible outlook on something like this, but it was rather nice not to have to argue about every little thing with him.

Ron just nodded at him now, slightly pushing him in Malfoy's direction with a smirk on his face and wandered over to talk to Neville. Malfoy pushed the chair across from him out with his foot, a clear signal that he wanted Harry to sit there. One thing he'd certainly noticed about Malfoy was that he was a bit of a control freak. Harry wondered if that had stemmed from the war and how they had had so little control over so many things, or if it was simply ingrained in him from a young age. Maybe one day he'd be able to ask questions like that without upsetting the other boy. On the other hand, it was sort of weird that he'd want to know the answer to such an odd question in the first place. 

He was brought out of his thoughts when his companion waved his had in front of his face to get Harry's attention. "Alright there, Potter?"

"Yeah, sorry, just thinking," Harry said looking down at the mass of papers that were strewn over the table. "Dare I ask what all of this is?"

The other boy actually looked sheepish, "Well, uh, notes mostly. There's also the essay I was working on, and the one before it that I barely passed. I was sort of hoping you could explain to me where I got it wrong. There are Potions notes in here too. I thought that maybe making a schedule would be helpful, depending on what assignments are due in which classes first, or something."

He nodded, having expected something similar to this. "I'll just leave the schedule making up to you, since I'm not terribly good at it. We can start with Defense, since that essay is due in a couple of days, and work on Potions after, though."

Malfoy nodded, shuffling the papers around, presumably to find the Defense essay he had been working on the night before, then sliding a stack of papers over to Harry. He spent several minutes skimming the essay and realized quickly where the other boy was having so much trouble with it. So far it seemed as though the only way Malfoy was perceiving Defense was from an offense point of view, which explained why he didn’t understand any of the theory they were going over. 

It also explained why he was great at strategizing how to infiltrate or construct an attack during the war but had stayed away from working on the protections that had been their first line of defense at the time.

Apparently he'd been quiet for much too long because Malfoy made a noise that Harry thought might have been meant as a clearing of the throat but only came out strangled. "It's bad isn't it?"

"I guess that depends on what you consider bad," Harry told him calmly. Malfoy looked very worried, which wasn't a look Harry had seen on him in quite some time. He looked down at the paper again for a moment before speaking, "Honestly, I'm not sure how you manage to make some of the spells work with the way you're trying to make the theory work."

When he looked up again he was met with a furrowed brow and a completely confused grey gaze. "I'm not sure I understood that at all," Malfoy told him uncertainly. "Does that mean that I've got the theory completely wrong?"

He was beginning to think that this was going to be a lot more difficult than he had originally thought and he was no longer certain if this was going to be worth getting a better Potions score. He shook his head slightly, pushing the essay away from him and spreading his hands out on the table thoughtfully. He would have to find a way to teach Malfoy Defense from the actual defensive point of view instead of from an offensive point of view, and that would probably translate into practical work as well. It was certainly more likely to be a long term project rather than a few study groups. Harry couldn't decide if that was going to be a good thing or a bad thing. 

 

"Okay, so the problem, from what I can tell just from reading that...and you can't turn that in, by the way, Kinley won't give you shit for marks on that. Anyways, the problem is that you see Defense only from the offensive point of view. You're trying to twist the theory of Defense Against the Dark Arts from the side of offense, so you aren't really understanding why different types of defensive spells should be used in different situations," Harry told him, trying to sound helpful without sounding condescending. 

The other boy tilted his head and pulled the essay back towards him, reading a few lines before he looked back up at Harry. "Okay, so, show me." Harry just raised an eyebrow at him, silently asking if he really thought that was going to magically fix it and got an eye roll in return. "I know it isn't going to be that simple, prat, but we have to start somewhere. For now, just show me in this essay, that I apparently can't turn in, where I'm twisting the theory. At least that way I'll know what not to do," he said, grumbling the last few words under his breath. 

~

Studying with Potter wasn't at all what Draco expected it to be. Honestly, he hadn't thought that the other boy was going to have all that much to teach him, even if he was amazingly good at Defense, not that Draco was likely to ever admit that out loud. Instead, Potter (and really, shouldn't he start calling him Harry at this point?) had actually been able to point out exactly where he was getting it wrong, and had even started helping him understand what he would need to learn to actually understand the theory. It seemed that the studying plan was actually going to be a lot more in-depth than he had imagined originally, and a lot more of an even playing field than he had deigned to realize. 

He'd had some doubts that the whole studying Potions with Potter was going to work out in his favor, but it seemed that he'd been wrong about that. Potter actually seemed more in his element than Draco had seen him since the last time he'd watched Potter put up a beautifully done ward. He didn't look free like he did when he was searching through the skies looking for the snitch, rather he looked intent and focused. He was so completely wrapped up in teaching Draco that he didn't notice when Granger came into the common room, and Draco actually had to remind him when it was time for dinner. Then the two of them had actually walked down to the Great Hall side by side, something that seemed to send most of the younger students into shock, and even some of their year mates. Most of their friends watched with surprised looks, but no one seemed to be completely shocked at the development. 

Potter, or Harry as Draco felt he should probably be calling the other boy, was more than content to sit next to Draco during dinner, with his friends on the other side of him, and continue to teach Draco about the theory of Defense that he was looking at wrong. Granger still seemed a bit uncertain about the arrangement, but wonder of all wonders ended up being that Weasley actually contributed positively to the discussion. The two different groups of Eighth Years that were the divide between Draco's friends and Harry's friends were sitting clumped together with the rest of the Eighth Years sitting more closely than they usually did as well. By the time dinner was over the entire table had contributed something to their conversation and there had even been a few good-natured disputes between them that had been settled as well. 

For the first time all of them were united by something that didn't involve the violence of a war, and Draco was sort of humbled by the magnitude of what he had unknowingly started. It hadn't once occurred to Draco that spending more time with Harry Potter could have such a change on the dynamics of their year and possibly even the rest of the school. He wondered, not for the first time, what it might have been like if they had been friends from the beginning. He knew it still wouldn't have been quite like it was then, with the way everyone was getting along at the Eighth Year table, not just by co-existing, but actually interacting with each other. Sometimes things had to fall apart completely to be put together in such a way as had been possible for the Eighth Years. It made Draco wonder about how healthy such a complete separation of Houses was as well, and he resolved to speak to Harry about it soon as well. Maybe there was something they could do...

It was after dinner, in the common room when Harry had parted ways with him and he was talking to Pansy that most of these thoughts had caught up to Draco. He was more than a little surprised by how happy he was that they were all getting along. Things like that hadn’t mattered all that much to him before now, but it seemed that his perceptions had changed a lot in the last couple of years. He was actually paying a lot more attention to the people around him, all of them and not just the ones he shared a House with, than he had before. It made Draco think about positive changes that could be made in the school to help everyone. It seemed he was going to have to try and talk to Harry about this rather soon after all.

For the time being the two of them had decided that they would work on other school work before dinner, and directly following dinner during the week they would work on DADA and Potions work, so the next night after dinner found the two of them in an abandoned classroom not too far from their common room working on Defense, since Harry seemed to think that Draco was a bit more lost than he was. Draco had tried to make the other boy see sense; clearly his Potions skills needed a lot of work, but Harry was determined that Draco was in more danger of needing the extra knowledge.

"Look, Snape already expects me to be crap at Potions, but Kinley doesn't know any of us well enough after two weeks to form an opinion yet, so you still have time to impress him," Harry told him patiently when Draco had kicked up a fuss about it. 

Draco finally gave in, too, seeing that Harry was going to be endlessly stubborn about this particular topic. "Fine, but I still don't understand why actually doing the spells is more likely to help me learn the theory. I learn perfectly fine from books when it comes to Transfiguration, I don't see why it's so different in Defense."

Harry was suddenly looking at him like he'd done something interesting, which he found mildly concerning. "Normally you'd be right. Honestly, I think when we were younger you were just more interested in the offensive and creatures bit so you ignored most of the theory which is why you turn it sideways the way you do now. As for casting some of the spells, I actually thought some dueling practice might help on that account," he said, rubbing the back of his neck in a nervous manner.

"And here I thought we were past hexing each other, Harry," Draco said, a small grin on his face. He wasn't opposed to the idea of dueling as a means to learn theory if the other boy really thought it would help teach him. Of course he didn't really understand how actually doing the spells really was going to help him learn the theory behind it, but it seemed as though Harry had some sort of plan in that area, and since so far he'd managed to teach him a few things behind the theory that he didn't already know, he figured he'd follow the other boy's lead for the time being.

The dark haired boy huffed at him, "If you don't want to do it, fine, but I really think..."

Here Draco cut him off, "I was messing with you! Honestly, you really shouldn't take everything I say so seriously! You should know that by now!"

"Really? Because I don't think I've ever seen you try and tease someone in a friendly way. Maybe once or twice with the other Slytherins, but usually you mean what you say..." Harry was watching him rather suspiciously now, as though he was trying to figure Draco out. He just watched back, trying to convey that he really wasn't hiding anything. 

Draco finally shrugged, "I am capable of it, but more often than not other Slytherins are likely to look for a hundred different traps in one joking statement, so it usually falls flat. And from a Slytherin Gryffindors usually take it as an insult, even if it isn't intended that way. Hufflepuffs take teasing fine as long as it doesn't sound too personal, and Ravenclaws...well, usually they analyze it to death."

"Okay, okay! Point taken. It's just sort of weird to think that we're good enough friends for teasing to even happen,” he grumbled back, “Alright, so back to why we’re in here. I was sort of hoping that actually showing you in practice why which defensive spells are best used in a certain situation would explain it better than just having you read about it.”

It seemed like a sound plan, so Draco agreed to it. Half an hour later the blond was sprawled across the floor wondering why he’d agreed to the idiotic plan in the first place. All he’d learned so far was that he wasn’t nearly as decent at casting most of the spells as he had originally thought he was. He’d also learned that Harry was more than a little adept at casting offensive spells as well. “Ugh, remind me again why this was a good idea?”

Green eyes appeared above him, along with a grinning mouth. “Well, I’d sort of thought you were better at actually using the spells than you seem to be. Remind me how you made it this far?” Harry seemed to be teasing him, Draco thought, considering he was also holding a hand out to pull him to his feet. “Maybe tomorrow we should focus on Potions and give you a break. It’ll give you a chance to enjoy watching me absolutely suck at something too.”

“Well, when you put it like that it does seem like a rather nice idea, doesn’t it? Anyways, I think I’m beginning to see your point. I probably should have used a different shield charm or a counter on that last one,” he said glaring at the scorch mark on the floor that had very nearly had him in the center of it.

Harry shrugged in response, “Yeah, but on the up side, that was a brilliant dodge. You didn’t even get singed! I think we’ll work on countering and blocking fire charms before we try that again though.”

It was moments like these that reminded Draco why he was so interested in the boy-who-wouldn’t-die in the first place. The two of them were building up an easy comradery that all but gave him butterflies to contend with in his stomach, which was absolutely ridiculous and somehow endearing all at once. It was a bit disconcerting to be the sole recipient of his attention. It was overwhelming in the sense that he could tell that Harry was paying attention only to him, and would barely have noticed if a firework went off right outside of the room they were in. He wondered if Harry always focused so completely on what he was doing and then decided that just wasn’t possible with the way his Potions grade was. Draco could easily get addicted to the way that Harry focused solely on him in a way that seemed almost natural. 

He realized then that he had spaced out and Harry was now watching him with a slightly concerned expression. “I know you said a bit ago that none of those curses landed, but are you sure you’re alright? I can always take you to the Hospital Wing if you want to get checked out just in case or something.”

“No, I’m fine. I was just thinking. Really, I’m in perfect health except perhaps for the backache I’m getting from having fallen to the ground so many times. Honestly Harry, next time you decide that we’re going to have one of these practical demonstrations we’re going to use cushioning charms and actual cushions on the floor,” Draco said, rubbing at a particularly sore spot on the small of his back.

He received a grin for his efforts, “Probably a good idea, that. We should head back to the common room, it’s getting pretty late.”

They decided on their way back to the common room that they would do practical sessions for both Defense and Potions twice a week each until they each got the hang of that subject. It turned out the two of them were planning to spend a lot more time together than Draco had anticipated at this point. Somehow he didn't think that the way into Potter's heart was going to be found by just studying so much though. He was going to have to find something that the two of them could do together outside of studying, even if they were spending a lot of their study time alone right now. 

The answer came the next day when Draco ended up with an unwanted visitor in the halls. Weasley had caught up with him in the corridor, and decided to make a nuisance of himself when he grabbed Draco's arm and pulled him into a random alcove. Weasley stared at him crossly for a moment, Draco simply gazing back coolly. It occurred to Draco to make a fuss about being handled in such a way, or being handled at all, but if he truly wanted Harry he was going to have to learn to at least be civil to the red-haired menace. 

"Well, Weasley?" he finally muttered, tired of being stared at like he was the freak out of the two of them. "I know I'm quite attractive, but surely a dark alcove isn't the best place to admire me."

"Look Malfoy, I couldn't care less about you, but for some odd reason, Harry seems to think you're friends. If that means I have to put up with you to keep him happy, fine, but if you're playing some sort of game here, and I find out about it, no one will be able to save you," Weasley was staring hard at him now, looking rather agitated. "It's obvious that you're trying to get into his pants or something, and..."

Draco held up his hand to halt Weasley's droning, "Look Weasley, if I was just trying to get into his pants, I probably could have done it by now." He paused for a moment, considering who he was talking about, and frowned a bit. "Or maybe not, seeing how oblivious Harry is, it's a miracle he's made it this far. The point is that I'm not looking to hurt him, and none of this has been a ploy. And I certainly don't give two shits about his fame, money, or any of that other rubbish that everyone is going on and on about. He's not the Boy-Who-Lived to me, he's just Harry, and he has been for a while, even if he didn't realize it."

He considered baring more of his soul to Weasley but decided it wasn't likely to gain him anything and would just give the red-head more ammunition against him. Instead he just watched the other boy with steady eyes and waited for him to speak. For a moment, he just stared back, clenching and unclenching his jaw for several moments before sighing heavily and looking rather resigned.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you’re actually sort of good for him. These last couple of years haven’t been easy on any of us, but Harry took everything so personally, like he should have been able to save everyone, from every sort of pain imaginable. He wasn’t doing all that great over the summer, and I don’t think he even realized it.” Weasley paused, and Draco just waited patiently. He was being given rather valuable information and he wasn’t going to miss out or ruin it by saying something snarky now. There would be time to annoy him later, after he had Harry. 

Weasley shrugged, “He lets some of that stuff go around you. He’s happier, and as long as you don’t have some diabolical plan to completely ruin his life or use him for whatever, than, as messed up as it is to say this, I approve, sort of.” He looked vaguely ill, and Draco was astonished that he’d managed to get the words out without choking on them.

“Really?” He asked hesitantly. The git could just be making fun of Draco, but honestly, he didn’t have his brothers’ knack for practical jokes, so he rather thought that he’d have cracked by now if it was meant to be a joke. When the only response he got was a nod, he said, “Not that I would have stopped my pursuit if you didn’t approve…but I appreciate the tentative support.”

“Yeah, well, just don’t make me regret it alright? Harry’s one of the most important people in my life, and I don’t want to see him get hurt.” Weasley turned and started to make his way out of the alcove, “You should ask him to play a Seeker’s match of Quidditch, Malfoy.” 

With that last bit of advice the other boy disappeared back into the corridor leaving Draco alone with his thoughts. He apparently had a new ally in the red-head, even if it was a tentative alliance; it was more than he’d had before. He did wonder how long said ally would be able to keep the new information from his bookworm girlfriend, and then decided he didn’t care. Granger was always going on about inter-house unity and not judging a book by its cover, or in this case, a student by their house.

The new bit of information that Weasley had granted him would hopefully give him another avenue into Harry's life. It really hadn't occurred to him to go the route of Quidditch for the simple reason that they weren't playing on House teams this year. Now that he thought about it that was one of the few times that he'd ever seen the boy at ease with anything. Aside from that, he still wanted to discuss the isolation of the Houses with the other boy and maybe even Headmistress McGonagall.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still haven't finished writing the story, but at current it has over 50k words. I'm working on revising what I have and posting it so I can continue writing. I hope you all enjoy it so far!

He might be loath to admit it, but Harry was coming to rather enjoy the time he spent with Malfoy. He'd been dedicating so much of his time to the other boy that he'd felt the need that weekend to spend some time with his other friends. As such, he was currently sitting out by the lake with Hermione, Neville, Ron, Ginny, and Luna as they discussed current assignments. They were all enjoying relaxing a bit when Hermione brought the subject of Potions up.

 

"How's the Potions essay going, Harry?" she asked him curiously. They all knew that he had been working closely with Malfoy for about two weeks at that point. It wasn't as though they had tried to keep it a secret, and so practically everyone knew that he was spending a rather large chunk of his time with the Slytherin. 

 

He smirked lightly at her, flopping down completely so he was lying flat in the grass, "Finished."

 

That seemed to get everyone else's attention, because the quiet conversation that Ginny and Luna had been having seemed to stop as well. "You mean to tell me that you've actually finished a Potions essay three days before it was due?" Hermione asked him incredulously.

 

"Sure did. I finished it early yesterday evening, right before dinner. Draco's just looking it over for me before I turn it in," he explained, waving a hand slightly in dismissal. 

 

"Are you sure you're Harry Potter?" Ginny asked him curiously, "Because there were at least two things in that sentence that point to you being someone else Polyjuiced to look like him."

 

Hermione shook her head, "No no, there were definitely three things there that make it impossible for this imposter to be Harry."

 

Ron, who had been silent up until that point decided that this was the best place to join the conversation. He might have made some semblance of peace with the ferret, but no one else needed to know that. "Yeah, I counted three too. Firstly, he finished an assignment before dinner, when he never used to do homework until after dinner when left to his own devices. Then he called Malfoy by his first name."

 

"And then," Ginny continued on, "is the implication that you're trusting said Malfoy with looking over your homework."

 

"Oh come on guys," Neville said, patting Harry's head lightly as the boy tried to push his hand away, "I think it's still Harry. A Harry courting the cliffs of insanity, perhaps, but Harry all the same."

 

"Gee guys, thanks ever so much for that glowing vote of confidence. Shouldn't you all just be happy that I'm doing my school work rather than nit picking who's looking it over?" Harry grumbled discontentedly. He preferred it when his friends had still been too shocked by the arrangement to really comment one way or another about it. Now that they seemed to be coming to terms with it, though, it was more than likely going to become a new favorite topic. He was beginning to think he should have taken Malfoy up on that weekend study session instead.

 

He was proven right about it being the new favorite topic later that afternoon when he was playing Ron at chess in the common room, and losing horridly. "So how is studying going with the ferret going?"

 

"Not you too, Ron!" Harry said before having a rook viciously attack one of Ron's pawns. "First Hermione, then that whole incident by the lake. It's not fair for you guys to gang up on me like this!"

 

Ron just grinned at him, "Oh come on mate, it's not as though any of us were actually being mean about it. I actually think it's kind of good for both of you. And your grades. But really, are the study sessions going well? I mean, I imagine they must be if you've actually got your Potions essay done this early, but I haven't actually asked before, so I thought maybe I should..."

 

He watched his friend quietly for a moment, trying to gauge the red head's sincerity. It seemed like Ron really was adjusting to it, and neither he nor Malfoy had even been rude to each other since the study sessions had started. "They're going well, really well actually. For the first time I can remember I actually understand some of the information Snape pours out during class, and it's got me keeping up a lot better than I would normally be able to. And Draco's making a ton of progress in Defense too, so that's been good." Harry honestly wasn't sure when he'd switched over from calling him Malfoy to calling him Draco, but it was probably a good thing since he'd started calling Harry by his first name quite a while before. He decided that he wouldn't be too concerned about the change in the way they addressed each other because it just didn't seem like a big deal.

 

"I knew when he turned out not to be completely evil that the day would come when I would have to be nice to the prat," Ron said, heaving an overly dramatic sigh. "Well, as long as being friends with him makes you happy, I don't see why it should make a difference who he is. He really has been a lot better since we came back this year, even compared to how he was during the war. It's sort of nice not to have to worry as much about being cursed in the halls over something stupid."

 

Harry nodded in agreement, "Yeah, you're right on that. I certainly don't miss those days. We don't even really argue when we study. I mean, we've had a couple of small disagreements, but nothing like I sort of thought we'd be. I thought when he first brought it up that the whole thing would end in disaster since we used to argue so much, but we just sort of...solve our issues easily. I dunno."

 

"Doesn't sound like a bad thing," Ron commented, moving his queen across the board, "Checkmate. Anyways, I really do think it's great that you two can get along without hexing each other constantly. I think we were all a bit worried about that and the arguments we feared would happen with the two of you spending so much time together. We were all pleasantly surprised by how you're handling it. Except for Seamus, but that's only because he lost two galleons to me over you guys having an epic fallout within the first week."

 

“I should probably be concerned that you’re making bets about this, but it’s better than the chaos I was worried about,” Harry told him thoughtfully. Ron was the person in his life he had been most worried about adjusting to having Draco around, so if his best friend could handle it, then he really shouldn’t be worried about what anyone else seemed to think. 

 

~

 

The next day Draco resolved to corner Harry about possible changes that could benefit the entire school. He was relatively sure that it was going to come down to having the other boy pull rank with his hero status to get anyone to really pay attention to the two of them, but he was certain Harry would go along with it if he spent a little time convincing him of why it was such a good idea. He noticed as he crawled sleepily out of bed that the curtains to the dark haired boys bed were already open and the bed abandoned. He'd observed that Harry was sometimes waking up a bit earlier than normal. Draco thought if he hurried through his morning routine he might be able to catch him early at breakfast before everyone else began crowding around their table.

 

He managed to finish in record time, and hurried down the steps from the dorm room. He was almost half way through the common room when he realized that Harry hadn't headed to breakfast early after all. Instead it seemed as though the boy was working on something with his head bent over a book and a piece of parchment that he was scratching away at with a quill right next to him. 

 

Draco's brow twitched and furrowed as he made his way over to his friend. "Harry, what on earth are you working on at this ungodly hour?"

 

His head jerked up as he nearly fell out of his chair, "Shit Draco! Way to scare the crap out of me. Are you sneaking up on everyone today, or am I just special?"

 

"I was hardly sneaking. Honestly, I made a lot of noise. It's not my fault you were so terribly focused on whatever that is that you didn't hear me coming over here," Draco muttered, leaning over to try and see what Harry was working on. "Way to avoid the question, Wonder Boy. Really, what are you working on so diligently at this time of the morning?"

 

Draco ignored the way Harry rolled his eyes at him and dropped his head rather loudly onto the table as he murmured, "You're going to think it's stupid."

 

“And this would be a new occurrence in what way? Honestly, Harry, just tell me. It can’t be that bad,” Draco told him, sliding into the seat across from him and staring at the mop of unruly black hair.

 

It took a moment, but finally the head of hair lifted and Draco was confronted with green eyes and a small frown, "I didn't say it was bad, just stupid. I was talking to Professor Camden and Headmistress McGonagall a few days ago about studying to be an animagus, so I've been spending my extra time looking into it."

 

It was ambitious, Draco thought, but that wasn't a bad thing. Actually, it was a pretty damned impressive venture if Harry was serious about it, and he would have to be. If he wasn't, a transformation could go horribly wrong; there were more than a few things that could easily go wrong with the process and it wasn't an easy road to take. He realized that Harry was still watching him and waiting for what he seemed to think would be a negative reaction. Instead, Draco graced him with an honest smile, "I don't think it's stupid; quite the opposite really. Have you told anyone else you were considering this?"

 

A shake of dark hair was his response as Harry tapped the end of his quill against his lips. "It's not that I don't think I should or anything, it's just that I wanted to be really sure before I actually told anyone. I think that Hermione will insist that I wait at least until after the school year to start studying it, but I don't really want to. I think it would be better to start here where I have both McGonagall and Camden within reach if I have questions. I've thought about it a lot since my third year when I found out my dad and his friends were animagi, but that's not really the reason I started looking into it so seriously."

 

That his father had been an animagus had been mentioned to Draco before, but only in passing. It would be another connection to his father, Draco was sure, but if that wasn't the real motivating factor, he certainly wanted to know what actually had been. He was also a little more than simply pleased by the fact that Harry had chosen to divulge the information to him before he shared it with any of his other friends. 

 

"Well," Draco said softly, "What is the reason that you want to learn this so badly?"

 

The other boy fidgeted for a few seconds, looking vaguely uncertain, before he started speaking, "Honestly, I'm not sure what made it such a prominent thought in my mind again when I hadn't really thought of it in a while, but I know the moment when I started to think I might actually be able to pull it off. We were working on that healing potion last week, and it occurred to me that if I could actually manage to learn Potions that there wasn't any reason that I couldn't do this too." Harry stopped speaking for a moment, flushing darkly, though Draco couldn't really see a reason for that sort of reaction. "So, I guess you sort of gave me the confidence in my abilities that I needed to decide that I could do it."

 

Oh. Well, that might account for the blush. Draco tried to keep his smile from looking too smug at the announcement, but had no idea how well he'd actually done it. "I'm glad I could be of service. I think it's great. Maybe I'll look into it too. If nothing else, I can always help you study." Draco stood up, gently putting a spare piece of parchment in between the open pages of the book in front of his friend and closing it gently, "Now then, you can continue that later. People are going to start coming down for breakfast any minute. We should head to the Great Hall before Weasley gets up and beats us there. There'll be nothing left with the way he eats."

 

Harry chuckled softly as he nodded, gathering up his things and stuffing them into his bag before getting up and following Draco out of the common room. "If I do manage it...what do you think I'll end up as? Everything I've read says that you can influence the change to a certain extent with intent of what you want to use it for, but they all agree that ultimately your magic chooses the form."

 

"Well, I highly doubt you'd end up as something even relatively normal or mundane. There's always a small chance you could end up with a magical creature as your form, but that's rare even by animagus standards. Honestly, I'm not sure. Certainly nothing tame, either," Draco said, making sure to add a teasing tone into his voice for the last sentence. 

 

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean? Nothing tame?" Harry said, half glaring at the blond boy with a pout etched across his face.

 

Draco laughed openly at the look on his face, and they had to stop for a moment as he was bent nearly double in his mirth. When he finally calmed down he straightened up and was met with a rather bemused look from Harry. "I promise I wasn't insinuating anything horrible. I can totally see you coming out of this as, like, the Gryffindor lion or something. Totally cliché, sure, but it sort of fits with you, doesn't it?"

 

Bumping his shoulder as they walked into the Great Hall, Harry said, "Haha, very funny. It could certainly be worse than a lion though. I could end up as something cute and furry like a rabbit." He wrinkled his nose in disgust, "I mean, could you imagine? I would live in shame."

 

Draco snorted, shaking his head as they sat side by side at their table, "Of all of the animals in the world, I hardly think you'd be suited to a rabbit of all things. A squirrel, maybe, but certainly not a rabbit."

 

Another glare got directed his way by green eyes for that jibe, but Draco just smiled serenely back at him. "Ugh, fine, we're totally dropping this discussion for now. Just because I told you doesn't mean I'm ready to tell anyone else. I want to be sure about it before that... Anyways, why were you up and about so early this morning?"

 

"Hm, I was hoping to catch you once I realized you were awake, actually," Draco admitted confidently. If there was one place in the world he was certain Harry loved, it was Hogwarts, so he felt better and better about what he had been planning to bring up. Harry was watching him closely, one brow raised in question. "I was thinking about House separation the other day."

 

He'd been fairly sure that he had Harry's full attention a moment before, but if it was possible he was under even more scrutiny from him. "What about it?" he asked Draco uncertainly.

 

"It's just, well; did you notice how everyone at our table has finally started to interact despite boundaries that we used to have based on our Houses? There was no separation at all like there has been even though we've all been sharing a table and dorms. Once they realized that we really were friends, it was like it didn't matter. Weasley is even being amiable. I passed Greg and Finnegan in the library yesterday," he admitted excitedly. It was odd to find that he was so invested in something that four years before he would have been avidly opposing. "What if there was a way to do that for the younger years too?"

 

Harry hummed softly, picking at his food thoughtfully for a couple of minutes before he responded, "You're right about that. I mean, I know we grew up with a really strong separation of Houses and that in a lot of ways it did seem pretty detrimental to me later on. I don't think the younger kids realize how big an effect it can have on people. It really would be nice to see if we could find a way to bring the Houses together more. It would help a lot, in the future I think. Maybe it would cut down on the fighting in the corridors." 

 

He grinned back at Harry meeting bright green eyes excitedly, "We've certainly been intimately involved with some of those, haven't we?" The scene that ensued was what most of their friends say as they came up to the table in the Great Hall. Harry was choking slightly on a piece of toast with Draco patting him on the back rather roughly, both of them laughing loudly enough that people from other tables had turned towards them. 

 

Granger sat down next to Harry with a perplexed look on her face, "Do I even want to know what started this little scene?"

 

"Honestly Granger, when you say it like that it sounds like we're up to something! We were only discussing how such strong separation between the Houses might be proving horribly detrimental and how we might be able to do something to help that," Draco told her calmly, ceasing to pat Harry's back now that the black haired boy seemed to have his breathing under control again.

 

"I'm not sure I want to know how that topic led to this," she said, shaking her head disapprovingly at them. "It is a rather interesting topic though. I think most of us in the higher years have considered it before. I've never thought much about what might be done about it though. There have always been other things just over the horizon that tended to take up more of my time."

 

Weasley muttered something from the other side of her that sounded oddly like "house elves", but didn't comment further when all it got him was a frown from his girlfriend. She dismissed him after a moment and turned back to Draco and Harry, "What did the two of you have in mind?"

 

Harry shrugged, looking suddenly a lot less sure of himself than he had been a few moments before, causing Draco to frown slightly. "Draco and I had only just started discussing it. We hadn't really gotten so far as all of that yet," he told her softly.

 

"Well you should let us know what you come up with, and if there's anything any of us can do to help," Pansy spoke up from the other side of Draco where he hadn't even noticed she'd appeared. He was a bit surprised to be hearing support from another of the Slytherin students, but honestly the Slytherins were the ones whose reputation had been harmed so much during the war so it did make some sense. 

 

Several of the other Eighth Years around them expressed interest in helping as well, causing Harry to turn to him with raised eyebrows and say, "I guess we'll have to talk this over more later, since it's getting so much approval." Draco could only nod his agreement. He was happy that they were getting so much support from their year mates, and hoped that they got a similar show of support when they talked to others about it as well. It seemed he was right in talking to Harry about it after all.

 

~

 

Harry had been more than a little surprised by the interest Draco had shown not only in his side project but also with his interest in being involved in an attempt to unite the school more thoroughly. Harry had noticed the way that their year mates were becoming more integrated with each other the longer time wore on. He knew that his and Draco's sudden friendship had gone a long way to pushing them further, but he believed that it would have happened eventually with or without that friendship. He couldn't ignore the fact that he and Draco did make a rather good team with everything they had done so far, though. They were both doing better in their problem classes, and Harry thought that they had both been more relaxed than they had started the year out as. 

 

So far it had been a much better year than Harry had thought it was going to be. He was getting better grades and aiming higher than he'd ever tried to before, which was sort of weird when he thought about it, but it seemed to really have impressed his Professors so far, and even Hermione was surprised at how much he was studying. All of that aside, there wasn't much he missed that he'd had in previous years. He missed Quidditch, of course, and the Gryffindor common room. Most of the other things he'd come to rely on at Hogwarts were still there. Dumbledore had stepped down, but he wrote occasionally. It was a case of the more things had changed for all of them; the more they had stayed the same. 

 

Today Draco had requested using their time before dinner to discuss the House issue instead of studying. Both of them were caught up on their assignments and were even reading ahead for most of their classes, so it wasn't as though it was going to hurt their grades to take a break from all of the studying and focus on something else important. Draco, somehow, had beaten him back to the common room and was sitting at their usual table waiting for him.

 

He slide into the seat across from Draco and glanced down at the small pile of notes that were spread out in front of his friend. "I thought we were skipping this part of studying today?"

 

"We are. I was just going over some old Transfiguration notes while I was waiting for you," Draco told him, scooping the notes up together and pushing them aside. "So, House integration."

 

He'd realized not long after he'd started working closely with the blond during the war that there was a side of Draco that simply didn't know how to ease into things. When he was nervous or slightly uncertain but still trusted who he was talking to he had a tendency to be almost devastatingly blunt. "Yes, I was under the impression that the separation between the Houses was the concern," Harry replied, amusement laced through his voice. 

 

Draco glowered at him for a moment before rolling his eyes, "Do you have anything helpful to contribute, or shall I tell you my own ideas first?"

 

"By all means," Harry said, gesturing with his hand that Draco was more than welcome to go ahead. In all honesty, Harry wasn't sure he would know where to start with this idea and he was more than a little interested to find out what Draco thought might work. 

 

"Well, I was kind of thinking that our table was where things really started coming together for the Eighth Years, right?" Harry nodded, and Draco seemed to pick up a little steam and continued, "Maybe having everyone sit exclusively with their House-mates during meals is detrimental. We already share dormitories with our Houses, and common rooms, so having one of our most social parts of the day confined to only our own House tables might be curbing the younger children's desires to even attempt making friends outside of their own House."

 

He nodded, that made more than a little bit of sense to him. "It's a good point. I don't think anyone is going to be willing to obliterate the House tables altogether, though. And there would probably be a lot of confusion if you did that during the Welcome Feast, for the First Years being sorted...but the rest of the time, if the students were allowed to mingle between the tables that would certainly be encouraging, I think."

 

Draco beamed at him happily, looking as though he'd been given a Christmas present early. The look was a bit disarming and had Harry smiling back just as bright, even though he wasn't quite sure why. Perhaps it was simply a knee jerk reaction. "Do you think that the Headmistress would be willing to actually listen to the suggestion without simply dismissing it because it came from a student?"

 

"I think she'll listen, especially since we have the proof that it worked with the Eighth Years. Maybe if she sees how well our year is doing she'll give the idea more credence," Harry said feeling rather certain that she would at least be willing to hear them out. It had been one of Dumbledore's greatest wishes while he was Headmaster to have the school be more united, and maybe that would finally happen.

 

The two of them spent several minutes quietly thinking, or at least, that's what Harry was doing. He thought Draco might have been watching him, but he hadn't really looked up from where he was drawing random patterns on the table to see if he was right. He was trying to think of other ideas that might bring the Houses together more. The tables were a great idea, but it wasn't going to be enough on its own. There was so much unused space in the castle...maybe they could use that to their advantage. 

 

He looked up suddenly, excitement filtering into green eyes, "What about making some place in the castle where students of all of the Houses can meet. Maybe even separate them out by Years, or something? It's not as though there isn't plenty of extra space in the castle that isn't being used."

 

The other boy had startled slightly at the sudden outburst but now appeared to be thinking it over. "Like common rooms that discriminate by year instead of House? The library is really the only place in the school that's actually designated where all students from all Houses can be. It would make sense to have such a thing. And maybe one or two main common rooms as well? It seems like a rather large project, but I also think it would work. We can at least bring it up. The worst thing that will happen is she says no."

 

Harry was sincerely hoping that it wouldn't come to that. If nothing else, maybe McGonagall would let them carry out even part of the plan with at least the main common rooms. "Especially if we volunteer the Eighth Years to do the work. Everyone did seem to want to help, didn't they? We could use that to our advantage. Some of the Seventh Years might be willing to help us out as well."

 

"That's a rather good idea, actually. I know that ultimately we'll need to speak to the Headmistress, but should we approach Professor Snape first, since he's technically our stand-in Head of House?" Draco asked him uncertainly. 

 

It was a good question, actually. Professor Kinley who'd taken over the Defense class had also become the Gryffindor Head of House when McGonagall had become the Headmistress. Professor Snape had volunteered (shockingly enough) to be the stand in for the Eighth Years, claiming that he felt closer to most of them since he had worked closely with several of them during the war. As such, it had left Professor Camden who was teaching Transfiguration as the Slytherin Head of House, at least for that year. 

 

Considering all of that, and the fact that Snape was no longer quite so horrid where Harry was concerned, Draco was probably right about approaching him first. "Yeah, we probably should. If nothing else, he can set up a meeting for us with the Headmistress, hopefully. It'll also give me a chance to annoy him, and you know how I enjoy that."

 

"Yes Harry, annoy the Professor we're asking for help. That seems like a splendid idea," Draco said, drawling the words out and giving Harry a look that clearly stated that he was an idiot.

 

He sighed, vaguely put out, "Fine, ruin all of my fun. Do you know if he has a class right now? They should all be over for the day, I think. If they are, that would give us plenty of time to catch him before dinner starts."

 

Draco checked the time and nodded slightly, "I don't believe he has a class at the moment. We can head down to his office now, if you want?"

 

"Sure, let's go before I change my mind. You do remember that I'm his least favorite student, right?" Harry asked curiously. Just because he and Professor Snape were getting along better than they usually would have didn't meant that they were actually getting along by other people's standards. Though, to be fair, since he'd started doing so much better in Potions Snape had actually looked at him with something so close to approval that if it wasn't that emotion then Harry wasn't sure what it was. They'd both also been a lot less snarky to each other so far. His new found friendship with Draco seemed to be making all sorts of relationships in the castle change for the better.

 

The blond boy was tugging Harry along by the sleeve of his robe, apparently half concerned that he really would try and flee for the hills. "He doesn't dislike you nearly as much as you seem to think. Besides, Longbottom is his least favorite student. Weasley might actually be his second, which would make you his third. When you think about it, that's almost high praise from him."

 

"Yes, because only being the third worst is an accomplishment. Sometimes I don't understand Slytherins at all," Harry told him glancing down at the fingers wrapped around his sleeve. "You know I'm not going to run off and make you do this on your own, don't you? There's really no reason to drag me down the corridors like this."

 

Draco barely spared a glance back at him, apparently more focused on their destination than his complaints. "Right, because the one place your Gryffindor stupidity and bravery absolutely won't fail you is in the face of Professor Snape," the sarcasm was so heavy in his voice that Harry could barely contain a chuckle. He did have a point, and since the only real objection to being dragged around that he had (which probably tells you just how often people decided to do this to him) was that he didn't like other people to see him being dragged around, he let it go. The halls were fairly well empty, and his friend was plenty nervous as it was. If dragging Harry around by his robe sleeve kept him from doing something silly like hexing a First Year, Harry would allow it.

 

They finally came to Professor Snape's office, where Draco stopped and knocked gingerly on the door. It was quiet for several minutes and Harry was beginning to think that they’d missed him in his office when the door opened slowly inwards. Draco carefully stuck his head through the gape the door left and was apparently ushered inside since he began walking into the room beyond, still pulling Harry along with him. Professor Snape was sitting behind his desk looking disdainfully down at a paper which he thought rather looked like an essay, which would explain the look the Potions Master was giving it.

 

“To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit, Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Potter?” Professor Snape asked them without looking up from where he was writing something down on the same paper.

 

Harry jabbed his friend in the ribs slightly with his elbow. If he was the first one to speak, more than likely the two of them would get thrown out, and that wasn’t likely to help their endeavor. Draco glared at Harry for just a moment, probably for the indignity of the motion, but moved forward until he was closer to the desk anyways. "We actually had some questions and ideas concerning integrating the Houses more, and we thought that since you are technically our 'Head of House' for the year, we should bring the ideas to you first."

 

Professor Snape looked up from what he was doing then, giving both of them one of his most calculating looks. "I am not certain whether I should be terrified at the mere prospect of the two of you working together on such a project..." here he paused, his eyes sweeping over the two of them again while the boys glanced at each other uncertainly. Harry thought it likely that this could be the part where the Potions Master laughed the two of them out of the office, after all. Or, as he did a moment later, Snape could do something even more unexpected. He continued, having finished his assessment, "Or if I should be proud. The two of you have come quite a long way in the last year, and it has been fascinating to watch. Well? Sit down you two."

 

Draco sat down in the chair he was closest to, looking rather smug about how it was going so far. Harry was still in shock though. It had sounded rather like Snape had said he was proud of the two of them. He wasn't entirely sure how many more shocks he could take this year, really. Slytherins turning out to be decent people, hated Professors being proud of him. It felt rather like Hogwarts was being turned on its ear, and maybe it was. Maybe it was time for changes to be made in such a way that incited such excitement. Harry had been moving towards the chair at a snail's pace, still half tempted to make a run for it, before finally sitting gingerly down into the chair, fidgeting uncertainly for a moment.

 

Dark eyes were still watching the two of them closely from across the desk as their teacher leaned back in his chair, fingers steepled in front of his chest. "I understand that the two of you have been studying together quite frequently. Kinley and Camden were both warned of your past rivalry and came to me quite concerned when they had found out you were working together so much. They seemed to think that it would not end well, though most of your other professors seemed unconcerned. I daresay your marks have improved greatly from this endeavor."

 

Brow furrowed, Draco stared at him, "I was unaware that anyone had made a fuss about it. It's not as though we've been cursing each other outside of Defense practice."

 

"It is a rather nice change, isn't it? The amount of detentions being given out for fighting in the halls has dramatically decreased over the last two years or so," Professor Snape informed them, still watching them calmly. "Our newest staff members, and even a handful of concerned Seventh and Sixth Years who had once before been caught in your cross fire have been warned rather sternly not to interfere. I would hate to see your marks drop again, and the two of you seem to be making great strides towards helping others move past the war, whether anyone notices or not. I presume this is where your ideas for more House integration come into play?"

 

Harry watched Draco nod thoughtfully from the corner of his eye, clearly distracted by some of the information Snape was giving them. He decided that Draco was right and he wasn't nearly so far up on Snape's most hated students list anymore. "Most of it was Draco's idea, sir. We were discussing it a bit during breakfast, and the other Eighth Years were rather supportive, even going so far as to offer to help in any way they could." Here Harry stopped to glance pointedly in Draco's direction, barely managing to catch the other boy's gaze.

 

He seemed to catch the hint, nodding his blond head thoughtfully before speaking. "We've got a few ideas about where to start. I started out thinking about it when I realized the difference in the Eighth Year table. Since Harry and I have started to work together for Potions and Defense and we've been spending so much time together, things at the table have been a lot more interesting. Instead of being separated by Houses when we eat, like we were doing at the beginning of the year, or even by the divide between my friends and Harry's, everyone mingles now. No one bothers keeping to themselves, and everyone's getting along a lot better without the separation. Even Weasley and I have been, well not getting along, but we've been a bit better than simply civil with each other. You have to admit that's a rather large improvement."

 

Snape nodded his head in agreement before gesturing his hand for Draco to continue. The grey eyed boy blinked nervously at him before continuing on, trying not to ramble too much, "We were just wondering, if we could get so much out of sitting at a mixed House table, what sort of good would it do the younger students? The separation of Houses is one of the first things that we're taught at Hogwarts, even though everyone, in theory, wants the school to be more unified, we've never really done anything to promote it." Here Draco stopped to look at Harry, who had been silent up to that point in the explanation. 

 

He'd been trying to leave the explanations up to Draco, but looking back and forth between the two others he knew they were waiting for him to contribute. He only hoped Snape didn't think he sounded like an utter idiot. It wasn't uncommon for the Potions Professor to make him feel inadequate. Despite this, he took a deep breath before saying, "The idea is that the separation of Houses during one of the most social times of our day might be part of the reason the students stay so segregated. We thought that, excepting special occasions like the Feasts, if students were encouraged to sit with other Houses, that might go a long way towards good will between all of the Houses."

 

"I think, perhaps, we shall say that I am proud rather than terrified of the work you two have been doing," their professor told them, eyes glinting ever so slightly in a way Harry had never seen before. He could only assume it was a good emotion, since he was still being so calm, but it was still mildly frightening. "And did the two of you have any other ideas on the matter?"

 

Draco was all but preening next to him, Harry noted with amusement. Draco grinned at Snape before he said, "Well, we did have another idea. It would be a rather large project, but the Eighth Years have already said they would be more than happy to help with anything that would integrate the Houses more and Harry thought that there might be some Seventh Years happy to help with it as well. It sort of bases around the amount of unused space in the castle. This one was mostly Harry's idea, actually." 

 

He started up the fidgeting again at being put on the spot like that, and glared halfheartedly at Draco as he started rehashing what the two of them had been talking about not too long before. "I thought that it might be nice to have common rooms that didn't discriminate on House. Maybe a main common room or two that anyone can use, and then perhaps common rooms that were separated by year, like the Eighth Years have." At Snape's raised eyebrows Harry continued on, "We did say that it would be a pretty large project, but the students could do most of the work."

 

Snape watched them quietly for a moment, seeming to think over the proposal before sitting up straighter in his chair. "You are correct in saying that this project would take quite a lot of work, especially considering how heavy your school work load already is. However, if you can convince the Headmistress that you are willing to put in the work, she may very well let you attempt such an ambitious plan. I approve of both ideas very much. We all know that it has always been one of Albus's greatest ambitions to see the school more united. I think he will also be most delighted to hear that there is a strong chance it will finally happen, and with initiative from the students themselves, no less. I will speak to Minerva during dinner and request a meeting for the two of you. I'm sure she will be more than willing to hear your ideas on the matter. I will come and fetch you from the common room if she is amiable to having the meeting after dinner. If not we will arrange for another time." He gestured towards the door, the motion soft, "Now I believe that dinner will be starting shortly."

 

It was a clear dismissal if he'd ever heard one, and it had both of them scrambling to their feet, Draco a little more gracefully than Harry. Harry nodded at Snape as Draco said, "Thank you, Professor. We appreciate it!" It didn't take them too long to exit the room after that, and the two of them continued on their path towards the Great Hall walking companionably side by side in silence for several minutes. 

 

Finally Harry said, "Well, that went a lot better than I expected it to. He didn't throw us out until after agreeing with us and complimenting us. I'm pretty sure that is the nicest thing Snape is ever likely to say to me."

 

Draco chuckled, still grinning, "You're probably right on that account at least. It's not like him to give out such forthright compliments, and certainly not to students he's ever shown the slightest bit of disdain for. I think you're certainly in a league of your own where Professor Snape is concerned now Harry."

 

"Somehow I don't find that comforting in the least. I get the feeling that he's going to expect even more from both of us now than he did before, not that his expectations were ever low in the first place," Harry grumbled, running a hand through his hair and mussing it up even more than usual. It seemed like Snape's new found pride in him was probably going to be a mixed blessing at best. He was going to have to try even harder at Potions now that Snape seemed to almost like him, he just knew it. 

 

Draco was laughing outright now, as they neared the Great Hall. The other boy threw an arm around Harry's shoulders, "It won't be so bad. At least you have me to help you with Potions. If even Professor Snape thinks it's a good idea, then our chances with the Headmistress seem even better than they did before. Do you think we should tell the others we've volunteered them for unknown amounts of labor for our little projects if we're allowed to go through with them?"

 

"Hm," Harry hummed thoughtfully, barely noticing the arm that Draco hadn't bothered to move from his shoulders. He had noticed, just a bit, that Draco was touching him rather more than Harry thought was probably normal. But he didn't mind, and it wasn't as though it was causing problems, so he hadn't seen a reason to mention it. Ron and Hermione touched him sometimes, too, so it wasn't as though it was completely new to him. "Maybe we should allude to it without telling them too much. Especially since we won't know for certain until we talk to Headmistress McGonagall."

 

Nodding, Draco replied, "True. There are two ways they're likely to react; general exasperation and frustration with a mildly violent reaction to having a varied increased workload this year for one. The second is they'll get excited over it and then be horridly disappointed if it gets decided against. Either way, best not to have a lynch mob or a party until we know for certain."

 

They got less and less stares every time the two of them entered the Great Hall together, which Harry had to admit was nice. Hardly anyone turned to look at them as they made their way towards their table and sat down near the middle. They'd taken to the seating arrangement mostly so there was plenty of room for their friends on either side of them without excluding anyone who wanted to join in from any conversations. It was just another reminder of the togetherness the friendship between the two of them had inspired in their year group. 

 

They dropped the discussion about the project for the moment and instead talked about Draco's progress in Defense. Hermione and Ron came in moments later, followed by Blaise and Pansy, and the table filled up rather quickly from there. Neither of them mentioned their side-project during dinner, as per their agreement before hand, but they couldn't help grinning at each other from time to time.


	5. Chapter 5

Draco hadn't expected things to be going nearly so well as they currently were, and he had to admit that without the help from Professor Snape partnering the two of them together they likely wouldn't have made nearly so much progress in such a short time. Of course, Draco was probably indulging himself just a bit much in the closeness he was pushing for with Harry, but the other boy hadn't made a move to push him away at all. He hadn't even shied away from the increasing physical contact that Draco had been initiating.

 

Actually, Harry seemed to be soaking up the contact in a way that made Draco want to ask the other boy more about what his life had been like when he was living with the muggles. He knew, though, that it was a subject that had been particularly taboo with the boy, and that even his closest friends knew little about the situation and what it had entailed for Harry. For now, Draco was more than content with what he had and what he intended to work up to. If things kept going as they were it wouldn't be long at all before the boy was more thoroughly his.

 

Draco had learned patience during the war. It might not have been his strongest suit, but he had more than he had when he was a child, so that was something at least. For the things he wanted most, he could be patient, and there was nothing he wanted so much as Harry's attention. 

 

Harry had actually been so quiet after they got back to the common room after dinner that Draco was beginning to get a little bit concerned by it. He didn't seem to be upset or anything, rather, just quiet and introspective in a way that usually ended up with him being more morose than usual for a day or two. It was the first time that Draco had seen him in such a mood since they had started spending so much time together and he'd actually thought that he'd seen the last of these types of Harry's moods. Apparently he'd been wrong.

 

After watching him for several moments with no change in behavior, Draco set down the book he'd been perusing. "What's going on in that head of yours, Harry?" he asked softly, hoping not to startle the other boy. 

 

Green eyes glanced up at him before peering back down at his notes, "Nothing really. I guess I've just been wondering how different some things might have been if the House thing had been a little different and if we were encouraged more to spend time with people of other Houses. I guess I think it's just a little stupid that it took us of all people to even try to put into motion something that might finally change things."

 

He nodded; he understood where Harry was coming from with that. He'd thought of the same thing, of course, which is how they had ended up going to Professor Snape about it in the first place. He was actually about to respond, telling Harry precisely that, when a hush fell over the common room so quickly that both of them jerked their heads around to see what was happening to cause such a fuss, or lack thereof. He never thought he would actually see the day when Harry brightened at the sight of Professor Snape, but that was what was actually happening before his eyes. 

 

Without preamble the professor stopped and stared at them with dark eyes, "Well? Are the two of you coming or not?"

 

Draco would have dearly liked to say something snarky, but considering that he was on their side he thought better of upsetting the teacher. Besides, he was sort of enjoying the way the other Eighth Years were watching the scene with something between awe and abject horror. Apparently Harry didn't see the need to explain things and was already up and walking towards Snape by the time that Draco caught up to what was happening and moved to do the same. Draco's only response to the questioning looks was to wave and grin at his year mates before following the other two out of the common room and into the corridor.

 

The trek to the gargoyles that guarded the Headmistresses office was silent, neither boy attempting to speak and Professor Snape seemed to prefer to walk briskly while staring straight ahead rather than engage in conversation. It suited Draco just fine, but Harry was back to looking entirely more nervous than the boy had any right to be. He'd faced down the self-proclaimed 'Dark Lord' but dealing with Snape or McGonagall seemed to make him lose a large amount of self-confidence. That was definitely going to have to be something that they started working on soon. It simply wouldn't do for the boy-who-wouldn't-die to go around with no self-confidence. 

 

Draco's train of thought was cut rather short as they approached the gargoyles. The statues simply jumped aside upon seeing Snape, which he thought was rather unusual since usually the things required a password. Then the three of them were on the moving staircase and beyond that walking through an ajar office door with little preamble at all.

 

Being Headmistress suited the former Transfigurations teacher, he noted as they sat down across from her where she sat behind the rather large desk. She looked as though she had always belonged there in a way that even Dumbledore hadn't quite managed so effortlessly. 

 

"Tea?" was the first word spoken in several minutes within Draco's hearing, and it startled him slightly before he nodded, noticing Harry do the same. Professor Snape was sitting in an arm chair to the side of the desk, watching the on goings with a rather curious expression. The Headmistress nodded, waving her hand and watching with satisfaction as tea appeared on the desk. She set about serving each of them before speaking again. "I understand that the two of you have a couple of propositions for me concerning the integration of Houses in such a way as to promote inter House unity. I'm quite interested in hearing about them."

 

Harry didn't look nearly as concerned as he'd appeared even just a moment before, and it occurred then to Draco that his discomfort might have had little to do with the people themselves in this case, and instead might have something to do with the destination. The office looked nothing like it had while Dumbledore had been Headmaster, but Draco knew that there had been more than one war meeting in the room, several of which he had been in attendance to himself. He had no idea what other meetings Harry might have had to endure in the room, but it would explain the nervous energy he'd been putting off. He wasn't sure if he should actually ask the other boy about it, but resolved to decide about it later.

Harry fiddled for a moment with the teacup before starting, "We had a couple of ideas, namely about the House tables and common rooms accessible by people from every House." The two of them spent the next twenty minutes or so restating everything Professor Snape had already heard that day for the Headmistress. One of them would pause in their explanation and the other one would pick it back up playing off of the same seamless energy that they had been using in their studies. By the end of it McGonagall was looking at them with something akin to surprise while their Potions Professor sat smiling slightly at the scene. 

 

"Well, you were right Severus," she said, peering over the lenses of her glasses to give the Potions Master a considering look before turning back to the two of them. "I am both astonished and very proud of the way that the two of you have been working together as well as the amount of thought you have put into this. I believe that, especially if your Year mates are willing to put in the work to make this happen, there is no reason that the School Board would say no. If I had complete authority over such changes, I would give you leave to start working on the common rooms immediately."

 

Harry shared a look with him, both of them had forgotten completely to take into account the School Board and that they might have a stake in such changes being made. Even still...McGonagall seemed to think they would agree, and Harry didn't seem to be disheartened at all. 

 

"The board has a meeting in two days’ time," Snape informed them, "That should be plenty of time for you to write up a proposition and even, perhaps, a basic layout for the common rooms. A list of willing volunteers might also be helpful. Do that, and get them to me before lunch in two days, and we will put it before the School Board."

 

They quickly agreed and were dismissed. Once they were out in the corridor and a decent ways from the office, Harry turned into a small alcove and leaned back against the wall, Draco trailing behind him with no idea what he was planning on doing. The other boy just stared at the wall for a moment before saying, "That went rather well, considering, didn't it?"

 

Draco nodded, leaning back against the wall as well, "I thought it did. No one said no, they were supportive. The only thing we have to worry about is that meeting. I think they'll take it more seriously with the two of them presenting it, but I still sort of wish we could be there. Regardless, we do still have to write all of that up, and talk to everyone about volunteering for it. It's going to be a busy couple of days."

 

"Yeah, well, I learned a long time ago that there is no such thing as a quiet year at Hogwarts. Though I still have high hopes that this year will be quieter than most, with any luck," Harry told him absentmindedly. 

 

Draco doubted that was likely to pan out, but didn’t want to say so to him. “As much as I really don’t mind standing here, we really should get back. If nothing else we can work on a list of people willing to help out from our year. Tomorrow we can work on the rest of it, if you want. “ Harry nodded but didn’t make an immediate motion to move, so finally Draco took hold of his wrist and started to gently pull Harry back out into the corridor and towards their common room.

 

Harry dragged his feet, but followed along with a minimal of whining anyways. “Alright, alright, I’m going. You know they’re all going to be in an uproar over how we just left without an explanation earlier, right? Also, I think you should be the one to explain it. I’m actually getting really tired. You sure we have to make that list tonight? I’m pretty sure no one is going anywhere that we can’t track them down tomorrow if we need to know.”

 

Rolling his eyes, Draco just kept them moving, still holding onto Harry’s wrist. “It’s just like you to want to leave all these sorts of things to the last minute, but not this time. If we want to be taken seriously we need to have all of this done on time, which means the sooner we get it done, the better. Maybe I should have Granger help me put it together, if you don’t want to,” he said teasingly.

 

Harry stopped moving completely, staring at Draco with startling green eyes, “Don’t be ridiculous, of course I’m going to help you put it together.” Harry actually seemed rather upset about the prospect of Draco asking Granger about it. He hadn’t actually meant it, but Harry hadn’t caught the teasing tone.

 

“I was only teasing, Harry, I promise. It’s our project, and I don’t want to work on it with anyone else,” Draco told him soothingly, stroking the inside of Harry’s wrist with his thumb. The two of them stayed there in the middle of the corridor for several moments, just watching each other. Draco was once again left in the dark about what his companion was thinking. So many things could have been going through the other boy’s head, and Draco wasn’t entirely sure that he liked not knowing. 

 

Footsteps further down the hallway broke the moment, and Draco glanced up to see who was coming. Realizing it was just one of the younger students probably on their way to the library he shrugged and started pulling Harry back into the direction of their common room. Harry went along quietly which worried Draco a bit, but he was sure that the other boy would be fine soon enough. And if he needed to soothe his ruffled feathers some more, Draco wouldn’t mind that at all. 

 

Harry had been more than a little right about the common room. Everyone was practically in an uproar when they entered the room, the Gryffindors and Slytherins the most concerned of the bunch. It was still odd to come in and find them all sitting together and talking as though they had always been friends, or perhaps allies, but it was a welcome sight all the same. He was a bit more worried when all of their friends turned towards them as they came into the room. 

 

It took them longer to get out their explanations to their Year mates than it did to tell the Headmistress, mostly because they could barely get a sentence out without someone asking one question or another. Harry was still rather quiet. By the time they were done, they had a list of everyone in their year, all of which were willing to help them with the common room project. They spent the rest of the night discussing details with their friends before going to bed. Draco still wasn’t sure what to do about the nerve he seemed to have hit with Harry, but there was only so much he could do and so far he could push before he upset him even more. There were some conclusions that he knew Harry would have to come to on his own.

 

~

 

Harry had been lying awake in bed for more than two hours. He knew this because Ron had snuck out to see Hermione in the common room after thirty minutes when he thought everyone was asleep, and then snuck back in again an hour and a half later. Harry had been trying to make sense of his reactions that evening, particularly those centered around Draco. He was no longer entirely convinced that Draco was only looking to him for friendship, and he wasn’t certain how to feel about that. 

 

Ron was still moving around and settling in the bed next to him, and Harry finally decided that he should just get up and talk to Ron about it. Normally it would be better to talk to Hermione, but Ron was the most easily accessible at the moment and since he’d been handling a lot of things rather well lately Harry didn’t think it would cause too much harm. He got up and walked as quietly as he could over to Ron’s bed, opening the curtains carefully.

 

“Pst, Ron! Get back up!”

 

Ron jumped, nearly falling off the bed. “Bloody hell Harry, I thought you were asleep!”

 

Harry rolled his eyes. Subtle, Ron was not. “Never mind that, come on, I can’t sleep.”

 

It was a testament both to their friendship and how often things like Harry waking him up happened the way that Ron grumbled but crawled back out of bed and followed Harry out to the common room again. “Alright, you wanna tell me why you’re still awake. And why I’m out of bed again?”

 

“You weren’t asleep anyways. Besides, I need help,” Harry told him, still just a little reluctant to bring up this particular topic, but he had pulled Ron back out of bed.

 

Something must have shown on his face to give something away because Ron dragged his hand down his face with a heavy sigh, “Oh Merlin, don’t tell me. It’s about Malfoy isn’t it? This is going to be a talk about feelings. You know Hermione is better at this stuff!”

 

Harry frowned at him, “Why are you just assuming it’s about him? It could be about anything!”

 

“Not bloody likely. You spend more time with him than you do with anyone else. And when he looks at you his face always goes, I dunno, soft. Like how Bill gets around Fleur. Everyone knows he likes you,” Ron informed him calmly, though he did make a face at the words.

 

“Well, yeah, I guess he’d have to with all of the time we’ve been spending together. I don’t think he would spend time with me if he didn’t.” Okay, so maybe he was being a bit deliberately obtuse, but he was having a lot of trouble trying to come to terms with whatever the hell was happening in his life at the moment.

 

Ron shook his head, “You know that isn’t what I meant. So what’s the problem then? Do you not like him back or something?” His friend brightened considerably for a moment, “Does that mean I can go back to calling him a ferret?”

 

Harry snorted, glaring at his best friend, “No Ron, you cannot go back to calling him that!” He stared at the dying embers of the fire for a moment. “Honestly, I don’t know what to think. I’ve been sort of…I mean, I’d sort of guessed that he might be looking for something else but he’s never just said anything about it and I don’t know. It’s weird just being friends with him, how on earth am I even supposed to think about more.”

 

“Since we’re discussing this in the first place I’m going to assume that him being a bloke isn’t an issue here,” Ron shrugged, “Maybe, I dunno, stop worrying about it? If you don’t like him back, just tell him. Or if you’re not sure, maybe, I dunno, tell him that too? Hermione’s always going on about how communication is important. Do you think that applies if you aren’t together yet?”

 

He thought about that for a moment; it did sound like something that Hermione would say. Ron was a decidedly unhelpful substitute but somehow he didn’t think that talking it over with Hermione was going to really go all that differently. He resolved to do it first thing in the morning anyways, as he and Ron made their way back to their beds, Harry still as confused as ever. 

 

Hermione was in the common room when Harry finally came down, quite a bit later than he normally would. He wasn't really willing to admit it anywhere outside of his own head, but he was probably avoiding Draco a little bit, mostly because he still just wasn’t sure about how to handle the situation. He sat down next to Hermione at one of the tables in a corner of the room where people usually went if they were having a private conversation. She watched him over the top of her book for a moment before setting it down.

 

She folded her hands on the table, "Ron told me about your...talk, last night. I was a bit surprised that he didn't, at any point, get upset. He seemed rather resigned, so I think he's realized what was happening long before you did." She stopped to look him over in a way that made Harry feel as though he was being criticized, then said, "Why is this bothering you so much? You seem happier and calmer than I think I've seen you, maybe ever."

 

He could feel his cheeks heating up as he glanced away from her, only to notice Draco on the other side of the room talking to Pansy. "It's just, I don't really know why I'm so worried. It's still weird to think that we're friends."

 

She nodded, "I imagine it is, but remember that the two of you have been working well together for years. Just because this is the first time you have been officially on friend terms doesn't mean that you weren't practically friends before this. The only difference now is that you're openly spending time with him where other people can see you."

 

Harry thought about that for a moment, and in a way she was right. They had been on fairly good terms during the war after Draco had decided to help them. But that didn't have much to do with what was happening right then, as far as he could tell. "So you really don't think much has changed this year?"

 

"Oh, I didn't say that. Quite the contrary, almost everything has changed. For one, you actually accepted help from someone besides me on your Potions work, and you and Draco have managed to unite the Eighth Years pretty much seamlessly. I study with Pansy and Millicent now, did you know? Besides, this year Draco seems to have actively decided to pursue you," she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, watching him curiously, "Honestly Harry, I can't really tell you what to do here. I think, in this case, you should decide on your own. I just hope you don't make any rash decisions. This is a case where I think the Slytherin side of you would be better put to use. And Harry? Don't worry about what anyone else is going to say. Ron and I are behind you, no matter what you want, you know that." 

 

With those parting words she got up from the table and made her way out of the common room, probably going to breakfast, something Harry should do as well. He didn't think he was worried about what other people might say. He actually thought that with everything that had happened he more than deserved a little bit of peace, and he was more than willing to fight to get it. So he didn't really think that was it, though it was great to know that his two best friends would support him no matter what.

 

So if it wasn't really that, and Hermione seemed to think that he and Draco had been on good terms long enough that being friends shouldn't have been taking this long for him to get used to. Draco, no matter what he did, had always been able to get a reaction out of him. If this was the happiest Hermione had ever seen him, then that was a good thing, right? Maybe all of that fighting with Draco was just both of them being upset that they weren't friends, or something equally ridiculous. No one had ever kept his attention like the blond, whether it was negative or positive, so maybe he really shouldn't be surprised by any of it. 

 

Going over it again and again wasn't actually likely to get him anywhere good, so he resolved not to worry about it for the time being, unless Draco brought it up, or there was another incident like the night before. Then he would deal with it one way or another. Honestly though, he couldn't imagine his life without Draco any more, and wasn't that some sort of sign? He liked Draco, was attracted to him even, he could admit that, so there wasn't any reason to push the other boy away... And it was probably a good thing that he had come to that realization, because Draco himself chose that moment to sit in the chair Hermione had vacated a moment before.

 

"Alright, Harry? You're looking a bit disgruntled this morning," he informed Harry softly, grey eyes watching him keenly with concern.

 

He shook his head, "I'm fine, really. We should get to breakfast. I think Ron and Greg are already down there, and you know they'll eat everything good if we wait too long." It was still odd to be calling most of the Slytherins by their first names, but it was a good feeling too. He knew, at least in their year, he didn't have any enemies any more, and that was a wonderful feeling.

 

Draco nodded, standing back up and waiting for Harry to do the same before leading the way out of the common room, "So I thought that maybe during lunch we could talk to some of the Seventh Years that have been making an effort about helping with the project. That way we'll have an almost complete list of names to hand over to Professor Snape tomorrow. Are you still fairly well caught up on your school work?"

 

"Yeah, everything except that Potions essay that's due next week," Harry told him as they moved along the corridors. Harry couldn't help but watch the other boy more closely than he normally would have, noticing just how long the other boy's legs were and how Draco was just a few inches taller than him. He made an effort to drag his attention back to the conversation, "Did you want to work on the proposition and the basic layout of the room thing he wanted us to do before dinner?"

 

"I think we'd better. It's one of the only truly quiet times in the common room," he said, cocking his head to one side in thought for a moment. "Maybe, instead of working on it in the common room, we should do it in the classroom we've been using. We'd be less likely to get interrupted there by people who just want to try and give us helpful suggestions that are more likely to derail the project than to help it."

 

Harry had to agree that the involvement of too many people in the planning process might be detrimental in this case. Everyone was likely to have a different opinion on something or another, and that wouldn't get them very far. It seemed like a better idea that they work on it alone like they had originally planned to. Of course, it didn't escape his attention that it would mean more time alone with Draco away from others completely. He realized after a moment that while he'd been caught up in his own thoughts, Draco had been waiting for an answer.

 

The other boy was watching him with an uncertain gaze, "We don't have to, I just thought it might be easier to work on it without interruptions."

 

"No, I mean, yes. What I mean is, I think it's a good idea to use the classroom," Harry said in a rush, flushing slightly and rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

 

He was expecting a teasing comment, but Draco only smiled at him and led him into the Great Hall. The two of them took up their usual spots at the table that their friends always seemed to leave open for them now. Harry spent most of breakfast discussing the Potions essay with Draco and Pansy, and trying his hardest to ignore the looks that his two friends kept sending his way. He didn't have a real answer to his quandary, since he didn't really think just continuing on without any real idea of what he wanted or what Draco wanted was a solution. Still, it was better than having a mild panic attack over what might or might not happen. He was just going to do his best to go with the flow for the time being. 

 

Nothing too interesting happened in their classes these days except for the taking of a horrendous amount of notes and the assignment of entirely too long essays. Lunch was a bit more interesting as they talked to a handful of Seventh Years that they thought might be willing to help out with the project. A lot of the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were more worried about N.E.W.T.s than anything like the common rooms. A handful of Slytherins, most of the Gryffindors (though that group might have had something to do with the way Ginny glared them into submission), and Luna along with a couple of her friends all signed up to help them with it. One item on their to-do list was done, and, if possible, Draco seemed even more enthusiastic than before about it. 

 

"With this many people willing to help out, I don't think they'll say no, do you Harry?" the blond asked him as they finally sat down to eat.

 

Harry shook his head, smiling slightly at his friend, "I don't think they're going to say no. Especially not with Professor Snape on our side. Between him and the Headmistress, they can probably just glare the council into submission."

 

"You know," Ron spoke up from a couple of seats away, "I think I would pay to see Snape use that glare on someone that actually deserved it. McGonagall's glare is almost as good, really."

 

Draco and Harry both nodded in agreement, and Harry turned back to him, "So that just leaves the proposition and the basic layout of a room, right?"

 

"Yeah, and I don't think we should make the proposition too long. I think the more short and to the point we keep it the less likely they are to get bored and lose interest in the idea. It needs to be just elaborate enough to get their attention," Draco told him, as he grabbed a roll from a basket on the table. 

 

He idly wondered how many times Draco was going to insist on rewriting the damned thing because he didn't think it was perfect. While they had been working on essays together Harry had found out the hard way that Draco had a tendency to think things to death. Harry had stopped him more than once from throwing out a perfect essay just because he wasn't sure it got his point across perfectly. "Just remember that if you do what you usually do and keep stripping it down every time you decide to rewrite it the thing will probably lose its ability to keep their attention."

 

Draco glared at him, clearly offended, "Was that your subtle way of trying to tell me that I edit things to death?"

 

"Yes, yes it is. You know you do it Draco, I've caught you at it more than once," he told him, pointing his finger at him for a second, "At least you're better about stopping yourself from doing it too much than you used to be."

 

The other boy went from offended to pouting, "That's mean. I just want things to be perfect; it's not my fault that I get carried away. It's not as though I set out to strip out all of the creativity from my essays, it's just that, well, most of them don't really need it, do they?"

 

Harry reached over and patted Draco's arm comfortingly, "Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on you." 

 

Harry could hear Ron choking on his food lightly, Harry figured from taking that comment out of context, and Hermione patting him on the back roughly telling him, "Honestly Ronald, chew your food!"

 

Sometimes Harry was a little concerned that these were his friends. Then he remembered that these were the same people that had helped him defeat Voldemort, and thought that he wouldn't trade them for the world, even if he did sometimes want to hit them over the head with a text book. They probably wouldn't be such good friends if they didn't annoy each other from time to time. It was nice to know that the circle of his friends had grown as well, and that there were now so many people he could truly count on to be there for him. After spending most of his childhood with the Dursleys' it was great to have people that didn't care if he was still abnormal by wizard standards. 

 

When they left lunch to go to their next class Harry did so feeling lighter than he had since the night before. Sometimes just remembering that these were the people, including Draco, that he had gone through so much with but still come out the other side changed for the better and not the worse could make every little concern seem insignificant. In a way, it also made whatever might or might not be happening with Draco a lot less frightening, Harry thought as he walked through the corridor with the blond at his side.


	6. Chapter 6

Draco was a bit concerned with the increasing frequency with which Ron Weasley was currently seeking him out. Twice in about a week seemed like a bit much, but since the last little talk the two of them had was so helpful to him, he resolved that indulging Weasley in his little conversations was more likely to help him than hurt him. It didn't mean he liked being sequestered away with a Weasley in an alcove, though it did mean he would put up with it.

 

"Alright Weasley, what is it this time?" Draco asked him quietly. If he waited for Weasley to speak they would likely still be standing there in a week's time. 

 

The red-head looked a little torn, but he finally said, "I just thought that maybe you should know that you've managed to thoroughly confuse him. Whatever happened between you two finally seems to have clued him into the fact that you actually like him, as you know..."

 

He thought momentarily about making fun of the other boy for the wording, or lack thereof, but decided it would be counterproductive, no matter how fun it would be. "I had noticed that he was acting a bit unusual this morning. He seemed almost back to normal after lunch though... Do I need to be concerned Weasley?"

 

"I don't think so, as long as you don't try and move things along too quickly. He's still figuring out that he likes you back, so until he works that out for himself and stops worrying about liking you, you might not want to make any sudden moves," Weasley told him calmly, merely watching him carefully.

 

Taking advice from a Weasley was a very new experience, at least where his personal life was concerned, but just like the last time the two of them had spoken, Draco was willing to take that advice if it helped him in his quest for Harry. “So…should I be waiting for him to make the first move?” Draco wasn’t actually sure if Harry would ever make a move, even if he was confident about things, and that reminded him of him wanting to find out more about Harry’s muggles.

 

Weasley shrugged, “You might be waiting for a very long time if you wait for that…but then again you might not. He’s a very different person than he used to be, in a good way, I mean. If it seems like he’s just being shy at some point, rather than skittish, you could push further.” He was still watching Draco closely, as though still trying to discern exactly what his intentions are.

 

He dipped his head in acknowledgement; he was finding out the hard way that Harry really was still that skittish. He didn’t know how much Weasley would tell him about Harry’s past, but he thought he should at least try. “Weasley, I’ve been wondering… Before Harry came here, he lived with his muggle relatives, didn’t he?”

 

The other boy narrowed his eyes and folded his arms across his chest, “Yes, he did. And during the summers until last summer. Why?”

 

“It’s just the way he reacts to certain things. Some days he’s confident like everyone expects him to be, and then suddenly he’s this meek creature that shies away from everything. It’s not just that either, I hadn’t noticed right away, but he seems to really value small touches, like just touching his hand. It just seems like behavior ingrained during childhood. I just wondered how detrimental an effect his muggles had on him,” Draco explained slowly, keeping track of his companion’s expression to see if he would give anything away. 

 

Weasley stared at him for a moment in silence before sighing, "I wish I could tell you more about it, but even I don't know all that much. Harry's always been super secretive about it. I know that when the twins and I picked him up right before second year we had to pull bars off his window. I know that before Hogwarts he lived in a cupboard under the stairs. Outside of that I don't know much of the specifics, and even if I did, you should really talk to Harry about it instead. I wouldn't bring it up until he's a lot more comfortable with you though. Right now, if you mention it, he'll likely just use it as an excuse to bolt." He was still watching Draco as though he wasn't sure of what to make of him.

 

Draco thought that was fair; he hadn't exactly given the other boy much reason to trust or like him before now. He might not ever truly like the boy but he was more than willing to try for Harry's sake. "Noted, and thank you for the warning and the information. I'm curious, does all of this help come at a price?" He thought it was a fair question. More often than not there was a price to such information with the people that Draco more commonly dealt with. He knew that Gryffindors were not actually above such things, even though they might have you believe that. Regardless, he thought it was better to ask someone as blunt as Weasley straight out what it was he was angling for, if anything at all.

 

"There is absolutely nothing you've got, Malfoy, that I could possibly want. It's just good to see him smiling so much, even if you are the cause. So I'll keep helping you when I can, and when you deserve it, so you can keep him happy. He's my best friend, and that's really all I want, for him to be happy," he made an aborted movement with his hands as if to say that it should have been obvious.

 

Well, that suited Draco just fine. Weasley wasn't a terribly good liar, so he doubted there were likely to be any hidden motives. "Thank you, I think."

 

"Right, well I'm off to do something less weird and pretend this didn't happen at all. Don't forget about the Seeker's game. I still think he'd really like that," he said, before backing out of the alcove and disappearing. 

 

Draco stared blankly after him for a moment before leaving the alcove himself, and nearly walking right into Granger. "Merlin, Granger, are you trying to scare the shite out of me?"

 

One dark eyebrow rose in question, "Perhaps, if you didn't want to be frightened by people walking in the corridors, you shouldn't be lurking in an alcove? What were you and Ron doing in there anyways?"

 

"Your boyfriend is merely trying to help me land my own boyfriend. That's not such a bad thing, now is it?" Draco said, trying to look as innocent as possible.

 

"What is it with you boys going to other boys for advice? Honestly, like Ron is actually competent with advice, let alone relationship advice. How you think that is a good idea is completely beyond me. If you actually wanted advice on Harry, you might have asked me, but no, you went and talked to Ron of all people who might lose his head if it wasn't attached," Granger ended her rant with a glower, while Draco floundered for a moment. "Well, what do you have to say for yourself?"

 

He felt rather like banging his head against the wall a few times, but he wasn't about to do it in her presence. Apparently Harry's friends were all crazy, and oddly intent on trying to give him advice about how to get into the boy's good graces. He rubbed the back of his neck, "Weasley keeps cornering me. This is the second time he's all but dragged me off to a cozy little spot to give me information he thinks I need. The first time there might have been a threat or two involved as well." He frowned at her, "What do you mean "you boys"? Who else has been relying on Weasley for advice? Don't they know better than that? It's not like I was seeking him out or anything, I know better than that."

 

She waved her had dismissively, "That's not important. What is important is that you aren't going to get anything too terribly useful from Ronald. He means well, I think, but he doesn't really understand relationships. It's a miracle he's doing half so well as he is with ours." She started off walking again, and only turned back to him when she realized after a few steps that he wasn't following. "Well, come on then. I'm going to the library to look at some spells that might help with the common rooms. You might as well come with me. Harry's studying with Neville, trying to make sure that the essay the poor boy hands in for Defense is passable, so it's not as though you have anything better to be doing right now, is it?"

 

Clearly Draco wasn't going to get a say in what was happening here, so he followed the bushy haired girl a bit uncertainly to the library. "You lot sure are bossy, aren't you? I sort of expected it from you, Granger, but I didn't know Weasley had it in him. Is it some sort of hidden Gryffindor trait or something?" he asked, mostly grumbling the words out in mild complaint at the situations he kept ending up in, whether he wanted to or not.

 

"Don't you think it's about time you started calling us by our first names?" she asked him sounding rather cross. "Ron's only that bossy when it comes to Harry. He tends to react differently to things that involve his best friend than he would besides." 

 

They entered the library and after an initial glance from some of the other students, no one paid them any attention. "It's weird enough that I call Harry by his first name now, but I suppose it wouldn't actually kill me to use your first name, Hermione. Ugh, it's still weird," he mumbled the last sentence but was rewarded with a genuine smile from the girl. She directed him to a table and disappeared into the stacks for a moment before coming back with a stack of no less than ten books. "What exactly are we supposed to be finding in that mess again?" he asked her doubtfully. 

 

She set a couple of the books down in front of him, "We're looking for decorating spells, mostly. Most of the classrooms that would be acceptable for the common rooms are bare right now. We'll also have to take into consideration either wards or paintings with passwords to guard the rooms that are to be used for a specific year only."

 

Draco frowned slightly at that, "I hadn't really thought about that. Usually we use paintings with passwords for that, so it might be better to stick with that route. I'll make a note of it to add into the proposition. Speaking of which, I only have about twenty minutes before he'll be expecting me in the common room to work on that." 

 

Usually they would have met directly after classes, but Harry had mentioned helping someone with a paper, which apparently turned out to be Longbottom. It was probably how Weasley had known he could get away with cornering him without it looking too obvious. He was actually a bit afraid of what people might assume was happening if they noticed him spending too much time with Weasley. They would probably start to think they were friends or something equally horrendous. Draco had to admit that it was looking like an eventuality that he was trying to pretend didn't exist, the whole friends thing with Weasley. 

 

"Twenty minutes is plenty of time. I agree about the paintings. It will be less complicated than the warding, though Harry might insist on some of that anyways. You know how much he likes playing with wards these days." She stopped talking for a moment to rearrange the books in an order that made no sense to Draco, but seemed to please her. "Alright, what sort of horrible advice was Ron trying to give you this time?" she asked him, peering over at him over the top of an open book.

 

He opened the book on the top of the stack that she'd handed him and began glancing through the contents. "Why does it have to be bad advice? It could have actually been perfectly sound advice. He's not a complete and utter idiot, you know."

 

Tucking a piece of particularly defiant hair behind her ear, she said, "I know he isn't or I wouldn't be dating him. Despite that, I just want to make sure that he isn't giving you advice that's more likely to sabotage everything you're working for. I don't think he would, considering how happy Harry has been lately, but Ron hated you the most out of everyone, so I'm still a bit worried about it."

 

She had a point there, Draco had to concede, "Alright...mostly he's just been trying to keep me updated on how Harry's acting when he isn't with me, and suggesting things like a Seeker's match to do with Harry. He told me a little about the muggles Harry lived with when I asked. Oh, and the first time he pulled me aside he threatened me if I hurt Harry, so you know, usual stuff."

 

She huffed, putting aside one book and picking up another, "Well, at least he isn't intentionally trying to ruin your chances yet. Still, the Seeker's match is a good idea. I really think all of this," she gestured to the books, "with the common rooms and such will be really helpful in bringing the two of you together more. It's something both of you are emotionally invested in that isn't school work. You might encourage him to work more with wards from time to time as well. And if you do need help with a situation where he is involved, you do know where to find me usually. We've all sort of agreed that the two of you are good for each other, and as a consequence, for the rest of us as well. The two of you have always made such an impact on your friends and the school, even, that it only made sense that you becoming friends did as well. I've been rather proud of both of you through all of this."

 

"You know, Hermione," he intentionally used her first name, returning the smile that earned him; "you aren't half bad. The jury is still out on Weasley though. You have this covered, don't you? I need to head to the common room so I don't end up late. I'll be more than happy to help you with this later, if you like."

 

Shooing him away, she said, "Go on, I've got it for now. You can help me more with it later, if you want to. It won't do if you're late for meeting up with Harry. Oh! And remember that subtlety won't get you far with him. Eventually, if you want to keep his attention you'll have to start being more blunt about what you're looking for. Just give him a little time to adjust to things before you do that though."

 

Draco grinned at her, nodded and waved before moving on his way. The common room, when he reached it, was even quieter than usual and almost completely devoid of people. Harry and Longbottom were sitting at the table the two of them usually occupied, bent over a piece of parchment and murmuring quietly. He waved at Pansy and Greg who were on the other side of the common room and continued on his journey to his favorite table, and consequentially, his favorite person.

 

"How's the Defense essay going?" he asked quietly as he slid into a chair across from the two of them. 

 

Longbottom looked up and all but beamed at him, "It's brilliant! Thanks for letting me borrow Harry to work on it. I know you guys have to get that paper written up for Snape and McGonagall."

 

Eyebrows disappearing underneath his fringe as they raised, Draco turned a questioning look to Harry who just shrugged at him. "Er, you're welcome? I'm glad your essay is going well." He wasn't really sure what response would have been proper, but Longbottom didn't seem concerned at all by his uncertainty. He merely smiled at him and then Harry while he thanked the other boy before collecting his things and moving to join Draco's friends.

 

"Is Longbottom usually this odd, or is this a recent change?" Draco asked Harry curiously. 

 

Green eyes studied him for a moment, "Honestly I think Luna's just rubbing off on him. He's been loads more confident this year though. It's sort of awesome to see him doing so well. What have you been doing?"

 

He wondered for a minute if he should actually bring up who he'd been with for the last half hour or so, and then decided that it likely wouldn't hurt as long as he didn't get into specifics of the conversations. "Well, I talked to Weasley for a few minutes; he's a lot easier to be around now that he's not so intent on hexing me. After that, Hermione asked me to help her in the library for a bit. She's still there, looking up things to help with decorating the new common rooms."

 

Harry nodded at him, "That information will be helpful. I'm a bit surprised that Ron was willingly talking to you alone, but he has been better about things lately. Did Hermione have any other suggestions for things that we might need to cover in the proposition?" Harry watched him expectantly, seeming quite pleased with Draco over his willingness to talk to Harry's friends without being forced. At least, Draco hoped that's why he seemed so happy at the moment.

 

"Actually, she did bring up an interesting point about whether we should use wards or paintings to guard the entrances to the common rooms," he informed him as he dug out his notes and some parchment from his bag for the upcoming task. "We thought that paintings would probably be for the best as a main defense, but she said that you might want to use some type of ward as well."

 

He seemed to think that over for a moment before apparently coming to a conclusion. "Wards might be good as a last defense in case the rooms were being used as a safe haven, like the wards that were incorporated with the House common rooms last year. I agree that paintings and passwords should still be the main entrance and guard for the rooms though. Usually they hold up pretty well, and they are the traditional route for things like this." 

 

Draco nodded, watching the dark haired boy for a moment before making a note about it on the parchment where he had outlined the proposition previously. He slid the paper over to Harry, "Alright, here's the outline for everything I thought should be included so far. I thought you might want to look over it and see if there was anything I forgot that might need to be added in. It shouldn't take too long to have it written out, and then we'll just need a basic design for the rooms, and that should about cover it. We might want to think about what paintings we could ask to use for the rooms as well."

 

"Well, I think we'll only need seven paintings, since the main common rooms open to everyone won't need them," Harry mumbled as he began looking over the outline.

 

As was predicted, it didn't take the two of them long to decide on what needed to be added in and taken out, and it took even less time for Draco to write it up. Harry only let him revise and rewrite it once before informing him that it was as good as it was going to get and that they should work on the room layout. They ended up basing that off of their own common room and making notes about using mostly earth type tones for colors in the rooms. 

 

They managed to finish all of it in time for dinner; Draco volunteered to take the papers to Professor Snape after dinner. The rest of the evening was uneventful compared to the rest of his day, and even his visit with Snape had been relatively uninteresting. The common room even seemed to empty out early that evening, as though their entire year had collectively decided that the day had been long enough and it was time for bed. He was just about to follow suit when he realized Harry was still sitting in the common room as well. He seemed to be staring rather aimlessly into the fire, and Draco doubted that he even realized nearly everyone had left the common room. 

 

He made his way over to his friend, hoping not to startle him. Harry didn't move except to glance over at him as he sat down next to him on the hearth. "Are we expecting to see something in particular in the flames? Or are we just watching them tonight?"

 

"I was just thinking about how something so beautiful can be so terribly destructive," Harry turned his attention more fully to Draco. "I thought everyone was in bed."

 

He stretched his legs out in front of him, bumping his knee lightly into Harry's, "Everyone but us anyways. Not tired?"

 

A shrug and a stretch were Harry's reply, as though he wasn't quite sure what the answer to that was. Draco remembered then the suggestion about flying. It was dark out but he doubted that would be an obstacle for them. He got to his feet languidly, tapping his foot against Harry's thigh to get a reaction and then held his hand out for the other boy. 

 

Harry wasn't entirely sure what Draco was planning when he held out his hand to him and dragged him to his feet but he let himself be led out of the common room. Since the Eighth Years were technically adults, as long as they weren't doing anything destructive they didn't have a strict curfew like the rest of the castle. At most Harry sort of expected to be looking at some of the empty classrooms for common rooms, but instead he was led all the way out of the front doors of the castle. 

 

"Not that I mind that you've brought me outside in the middle of the night, but what exactly are we doing out here?" he finally asked, more than a little curious about the reason for their little excursion.

 

The blond grinned brightly at him, "Well, neither of us has been flying in a while, have we? I thought you might fancy a Seeker's match."

 

He brightened considerably; he really hadn't been flying in a while, and being on his House quidditch team was probably the thing he missed the most about his previous years at the school. "You could have just said so, you know. You should know me well enough by now to know I wouldn't turn down any sort of flying." 

 

"Yes, well, you'll have to settle for brooms tonight. I'm fresh out of hippogryphs, as it were," Draco told him, rolling his eyes as they reached the pitch. He left Harry in the pitch for a moment to leave and gather their brooms and a snitch to play with.

 

"Well, I suppose the brooms will do well enough, regardless," he said, taking his broom from Draco. Taking flight with the blond at his side was a feeling Harry wasn't actually sure he could describe. He knew he'd missed flying, but until that moment he hadn't realized exactly how much. That Draco was the one to give it back to him was something that he hadn't quite prepared for. It made him look at the blond even more closely than he had before, and made him wonder if the two of them really could be happy together. 

 

They circled each other, watching for the snitch and practicing moves together that they once would have used against each other. It proved to be just one more thing that they did well together. They played until they had both caught the snitch no less than four times each and their fingers were stiff from gripping their brooms so tightly for so long. It was well after midnight before the two of them took showers in the empty locker room and headed back to the castle that night.

 

Harry spent most of the trudge back to their common room watching Draco closely. It seemed that their late night flight had both of them more relaxed than they had been in quite some time. Harry decided that he liked the look on him; it had been a rarity in years past to see the blond so relaxed and content. It was completely unfair that it made him look even more attractive than he normally did, but he probably should have expected that from a Malfoy. 

 

He'd thought that they would head to bed once they got back in, but Draco stopped short at the couches near the fire, flopping down rather gracelessly onto one. "I'd forgotten how many muscles you actually use flying a bloody broom," he said, sighing contentedly and settling more deeply into the cushions.

 

"Me too. I'm not sure I touched my broom at all this summer actually. We'll just have to go flying more often to get back into shape for it, I suppose," Harry said, settling down on the couch across from him. Now that he'd stopped moving, he could tell that Draco wouldn't be the only one sore the next day. There really was a lot more muscle work involved than he remembered there being in flying. It probably didn't help that they had both sustained injuries, though mostly minor, in the last year that were probably still healing to some extent. Magic could do a lot, but some things took time to heal as well. 

 

Draco rolled to his side so that he could face him, and Harry mirrored the position. Even with several feet parting them, he noted that the stance and the situation felt almost devastatingly intimate. "Think we'll know by dinner whether we'll get approval to go ahead with our project?"

 

"Hm," Harry hummed quietly, "I hope so. I'm not the most patient person in the world at the best of times. I don't think Professor Snape or the Headmistress will leave us in the dark for too long. Actually, I take that back. If it was just up to Snape, he might, but with both of them knowing, I think they'll tell us as soon as they know for certain themselves how it will play out."


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so very sorry about how long it's taken me to update! Life has been incredibly hectic. Despite my hope to actually finish writing this story before now, that hasn't happened, but I promise it isn't abandoned!

Harry thought that they talked for quite some time that night, but he wasn't entirely certain, because the next thing he really remembered clearly was waking up the next day with Hermione standing over him. "Merlin Hermione! What are you doing?"

She gave him a look that quite clearly said she'd like him to answer that question as well. "Pansy and I were coming down to go over some of the spells I found last night before breakfast. And just what are you and Draco doing sleeping in the common room, hm?"

He gave her a blank look, trying to think of an answer to that. The truth was that they'd just gotten caught up talking, and they'd been tired from flying... Basically, he didn't have a particularly good answer to give her for that. "Well, we were talking and we fell asleep, I guess," he said, rubbing the back of his neck and ducking his head as innocently as possible.

Hermione had known him long enough to know there was more to the story, but for once she didn't push. "Well, you'd better get up. Pansy already sent Draco up to take a shower. You should too, and then you can meet us down here and we'll go to breakfast together," she told him, shooing him towards the boys' dorm. 

He was almost to the door when she called out to him again, "Oh and Harry?" He turned back around to look at her with his brows raised in question. 

"The next time the two of you decide to go out flying that late in the evening," she said calmly, a look of mirth etched into her face, "do try and make it back to your beds, won't you? It's not as though it's too terribly much further than the couches in the common room, you know."

Thoroughly abashed, Harry grumbled about nosey witches as he made his way into the bathroom through the maze of beds containing still sleeping bodies. Draco was still in the shower when Harry went in to take his own shower. Fifteen minutes later saw him yawning as he re-entered the common room and flopped back down onto the couch he’d spent the night on.

He'd half expected Hermione to be the one to insist that he get off of the couch, but instead he found Pansy giving him a rather disproving look with Draco at her elbow giving him an amused look. Pansy pointed a finger at him sharply, "Oh no you don't Potter, up you get! We're going to breakfast before the rest of the school gets down there and makes it noisy. Up!"

"Honestly Harry, first I hear that Hermione prodded you off the couch to wake you up, now Pansy's yelling at you. How did you manage to get two women so frustrated in a matter of twenty minutes? That's got to be a new record, even for you," Draco told him, grinning broadly at his bad luck and following the two girls out of the common room.

He huffed, half glaring at the two females, "How should I know? Besides, it's entirely your fault that Hermione scolded me for falling asleep in the common room. You're the one that decided we should sit down here and talk until we fell asleep!"

Draco flicked him on the shoulder, "I did no such thing. I was relying on you to tell me when you were going to fall asleep so we could go to bed, but instead you passed out on me!"

"You fell asleep too! Hermione said she found both of us still in the common room, so don't even try that!" Harry said, flicking him back. The childish argument continued as they slid into their seats in the Great Hall right up to the point where both girls turned to glare at them balefully. 

Pansy started making herself a plate as she interrupted their squabbling, "You know, for two people who work so well together most of the time, you two sure have the weirdest bloody arguments."

Beside her, Hermione chimed in, "Well, they did spend most of their school years fighting over idiotic things, so this really shouldn't surprise us. We shouldn't expect them to change entirely or all at once. They could be a bit more mature about it, though."

"Please," Draco said, rolling his eyes and passing Harry the stack of toast he'd been reaching for, "I've heard your arguments with your boyfriend. Don't pretend to be above arguing over ridiculous things. You two do it all the time. Weasley does it frequently with everyone, for that matter."

Harry pointed the butter knife he was holding at Hermione, "He has a point. You and Ron argue over the worst things ever. You spent thirty minutes yesterday arguing over whether or not we would include House colors in the new common rooms if they get approved. Two days ago you argued over whether or not you should leave for Charms five minutes earlier than normal, and by the time you finished talking about it, you were nearly late."

The bushy haired girl was just about to retort, a look of indignation on her face, when Draco cut in again, "And, by the way, we've decided that nice neutral earthen tones with some slight accent colors, mostly in white, black, and metallic will be used for color schemes, leaving out most of the House colors to make them more neutral ground. So that entire argument was moot." 

Pansy patted Hermione gently on the shoulder, "You should have known better than to bring that up. They don't have nearly as much ammunition against me."

"Oh really?" Draco asked her, a devilish look in his eyes, "You might actually be worse than the rest of us combined."

 

Nodding emphatically, Harry smiled brightly, "Yeah Pansy. Didn't you try to argue with Professor Flitwick about the use of a spell in Charms like two weeks ago?" He shook his head in mock disappointment, "Honestly Pansy, arguing with the teachers about their own subject. For shame!"

"How about earlier this week when you tried to argue with Professor Binns about your grade on your latest History essay? You argued with the least lively ghost in Hogwarts, the one that barely even knows he is a ghost. You're basically the queen of arguments you know you won't win," Draco told her gravely, a thoroughly displeased look painted onto his face rather convincingly. 

The Slytherin girl threw her hands up in the air, "Ugh, you win! We're all excessively argumentative and we rarely use that on tiffs that we might actually get the upper hand in. That makes all of us sort of well-matched in an unconventional way, doesn't it?"

As one both boys shrugged and grinned at each other and Harry decided that as much as he liked his disagreements with Draco, especially now that they never escalated beyond good natured teasing, he liked working with the other boy to win arguments against others even better. It was rewarding to win even such silly disagreements. 

It was then that Ron and Neville appeared at the table, a few of the other Eighth Years trailing behind them. Ron glanced around the table uncertainly, "Oi, what's got you two looking so miffed, and those two looking as though they've just gotten their way?"

Pansy pouted, stabbing a piece of ham rather brutally, "That? Oh, nothing really. They've just won an argument, is all. Bloody prats."

"How'd you do that? Hermione wins practically every time," Ron said, admiration clear in his voice.

Draco merely smiled at him, "It's a secret Weasley. One that we shall take to our graves."

Breakfast continued in that manner, and the rest of the day followed. Tension ran high amongst the Eighth Years and the handful of Seventh Years that knew they were waiting on a decision from the school board. Aside from the way that it kept things a bit more quiet among those people, everything carried on as normal. It wasn't until right after their last class that anything happened. Harry and Draco were idly informed by Nearly Headless Nick that their presence had been requested in the Headmistress' office. The ghost then floated away, apparently quite exasperated at being used as a messenger.

"What were the chances of them saying no, again?" Draco asked him, pulling on the hem of his shirt in a constant nervous gesture. The anxiety radiated off of him and seemed to seep into Harry.

He put a comforting hand on his shoulder as they made their way to the gargoyle guarded office, "Calm down. They'll probably have said yes and you're worrying about nothing. And just think, if they did say yes you'll have a whole different list of things to worry about."

Draco gave him a look so filled with horror that Harry actually stopped walking and turned to face him. "Merlin, Harry, why did you have to say that? That isn't helping you know!"

He put his hands on the blond’s shoulders, shaking him ever so slightly, "I thought you were supposed to have perfect composure. Anyways, it doesn't matter, not really. It's not as though you'll be doing any of this all by yourself. You'll have me helping you, and we'll have plenty of minions that we can order around and have do our bidding for this project. Besides, it's entirely too late to back out now. We've already picked out a bloody color scheme!"

The other boy relaxed slightly, laughing nervously, "You're right, of course you're right. It was just a little less overwhelming when it was still just an idea barely taking form on paper. Once we know, it'll just be even more real than it was. Minions, really? Can I call Weasley my minion then?"

"Of course that's what you would focus on! Come on, their waiting. And no, you probably shouldn't call Ron your minion. If you must refer to him as a minion at all, you should probably refer to him as Hermione's minion," Harry informed him, steering the other boy the rest of the way to the office and keeping up a steady dialogue about what they should call the people helping them with the projects. 

Professor Snape was waiting for them at the statues, and he raised one brow at the sight of Harry all but pushing a rather reluctant looking Draco along. His voice was laced with amusement when he asked, "Should I be concerned about the manner in which you have arrived?"

Harry flashed the teacher his most innocent grin, "Not at all Professor. Sorry if we're a little late. Draco has decided that now was the perfect time to have minor breakdown over the amount of responsibility that this could incur. Everything's settled now, though."

"Good, good," was Snape's reply as turned to the statues and quietly uttered the password. Once the statues had sprang out of the way he led their procession up onto the moving stairs and then once again into the Headmistress' office.

McGonagall beamed at them as they made their way into the room, which Harry took as a good sign. "Ah, boys, just in time! I'm more than a little pleased to announce to you that, after just a bit of needling, the board has decided to go with your rather perfectly thought out proposition! The change to the seating arrangements in the Great Hall will be announced at dinner. In addition, classes that are shared between the Houses will now assign inter-House partners for school work to promote unity, at least for the rest of the year, as a bit of a test run. And lastly, the common rooms have, of course, been approved."

She paused for a moment, studying the two of them carefully from over top her glasses, "I am counting on the two of you a great deal to put all of this together. I am leaving this in your hands, with Professor Snape as your liaison to the school in this matter. Any questions or concerns you have regarding this matter can be fielded to him first. You’ll need to approve the locations of the common rooms as well as the paintings you wish to use to guard them with him first. I want to say again how incredibly proud I am of the two of you, and the rest of your year even, for showing such initiative to help the students and the school.”

The onslaught of so much new information and the speed with which the speech was delivered was enough to have Harry sitting there mildly confused for a moment. Draco, he noticed, wasn't fairing much better. It occurred to him that despite their talks, neither one of them had really thought they would get the chance to see it through. For the first time, they were realizing that it was really going to happen. They'd be leaving behind a legacy in the school that had little to do with the war, that was for the students ultimately. It was both amazing and terrifying. 

Finally Harry managed to clear his throat and smile at the two waiting Professors. "Thank you Headmistress. We'll start working on things right away."

Draco nodded absently from beside him, "Of course we will! We'll have to pick out the rooms first, of course." The blond furrowed his brow; apparently already making a mental list of the rooms he believed might be acceptable for the task at hand.

The Headmistress studied the two of them, "I know that this may seem a bit overwhelming, but you won't be working alone, so there's no need to fret about it. Now, I know the two of you have a lot to do this evening. Professor Snape can answer any other questions the two of you might have. Good luck you two, and I cannot wait to see what you all can accomplish with this!" 

At the clear dismissal Draco and Harry both rose from their seats and followed Professor Snape out of the room and back down out into the corridors again. Harry wasn't sure at first whether or not they were supposed to continue following him, but when he made a move to separate from the path the teacher was taking, Draco merely grabbed his wrist and shook his head subtly. Apparently they were following the professor, even though they hadn't been told to with actual words. He wondered if there was some sort of Slytherin handbook that outlined some of Snape's odd behaviors and how to react to them. He should really see about getting a copy if it did exist; especially because Snape no longer seemed to hate him, or even be annoyed by him. Maybe he was just losing his touch. 

They eventually made it to Snape's office, where the older man held open the door and ushered the two of them inside. "Obviously, the Headmistress is quite busy, and so the task falls to me to make sure the two of you don't get into too much trouble doing this. As such, I have taken the liberty of providing you with a list of acceptable locations as well as those that are completely unacceptable. Likewise there is a list of portraits you are not to ask for help under any circumstances. Some of the paintings here are simply too uncouth to be allowed such a delicate task as this. That said, it is up to the two of you to find paintings willing to help you guard the common rooms. There are those in the castle who will likely think it a menial task and refuse, and those that will see it as an honor to be asked. Do try and choose friendlier paintings for the younger years. Now, do the two of you have any immediate questions?" The man was watching them curiously, hands folded on the desk before him.

Draco finally seemed to snap out of his trance like state, only to start up his endless fidgeting again, "Er, so, are we technically in charge of this? She made it sound like you would be supervising but not really heading the project."

"It was agreed by both the board and the professors, when it was brought up to them that this particular venture would be best left to the students themselves, especially the Eighth Years. After all, it was your idea. We decided, almost unanimously, that the younger students would profit greatly from seeing the initiative that you were all taking in the wake of such a devastating event as the war. It will be a truly positive change, and the gesture will mean a great deal more coming from those most directly influenced by the negativity in the recent years than it would from the staff. So yes, you will be in charge. Do try not to abuse the power. Of course, I will be available to you should you need anything, such as making sure I deem the paintings you choose appropriate, or if you run into issues you aren't certain how to handle. I doubt that you will need too much help from me. The two of you have grown quite adept at working together, and teaching the other Eighth Years to do the same," he told them, sounding more smug the farther along he got. 

Harry wondered if that was actually Snape's way of showing his pride, because the look on his face could certainly be described as proud. He never thought he would receive such a look from the Potions Master, but it was a good feeling to know that someone who had once been one of his biggest antagonists was now one of his biggest supporters. Glancing to the side he noticed that though Draco still looked rather anxious, overlaying that was the look he wore when he was incredibly pleased with himself. And he should be, Harry thought, considering that most of this had been his idea in the first place. Draco had told Harry many times over the last couple of years that he wasn’t brave, but he kept doing things that countered that completely. He might not think that bringing up the changes and then presenting them to first Snape and the McGonagall was brave, but Harry certainly did.

It occurred to Harry then that no one had mentioned a time line at any point. For a moment he forgot he wasn't actually in a classroom setting and started to half raise his hand, garnering an amused look from Snape. He quickly dropped his hand with a rather sheepish look, "I was just wondering, do we have a deadline on this project? I mean, no one's mentioned a time they think it should be completed by or anything, but it might be helpful in trying to organize it if we knew what sort of schedule we're looking at."

"A good point indeed, Harry. As it stands there is no set deadline. Personally, I think that you should be able to finish completely by the time the students return from Christmas break. However, if you believe it will take longer to get it right, you may have more time than that," he told them calmly, as he moved a stack of papers on his desk and pulled two of them out. "These are the lists I told you I had made. I trust you will make good use of them," he said, handing the papers to Draco. 

The blond took the papers and examined them for a moment before handing them to Harry, "I think, especially with the amount of people we'll have helping us, that we should be able to finish by then. If we can get most of it finished before break, those of us that stay can put the finishing touches in while the rest of the students are gone. She didn't say, are the common rooms being kept a secret until they are completed, or are they being announced with the other changes?"

Snape smiled reassuringly at them, "The common rooms are to remain a secret from those under Seventh Year until they are completed, so you need not worry about interference or the like from the younger students."

"That's probably for the best," Harry piped up, "They might mean well and want to help, but some of the spells we were looking at for decorating and changing the rooms are complicated. Most of them I don't think I would have dreamed of attempting before Sixth Year. With it being a complete surprise there will be less pressure on us to finish it quickly as well."

Their teacher nodded in agreement, "Two very good points. Now, I know that the two of you have a lot to start on, and dinner is nearing. As I said, I will be available to you if you need help with any aspects at all; whether they involve the project or not. I will see the two of you at dinner."

Another thing the Headmistress and Snape had in common seemed to be their knack for clear dismissals that left no room for arguments. As the two of them left with mild and distracted waves in the Potions Master's direction Harry thought about the way the last comments had been worded and the implication that Snape was willing to listen to any problems the two of them came up with. The more he saw of the man this year, the more confused he became. Many of the things he thought he knew about him were turning out to be wrong, especially now that Harry was no longer his worst student. The man seemed to be taking a serious interest in his well-being; and that in and of itself was a bit concerning.

Draco bumped his shoulder lightly into Harry's, seeming to have caught onto the boy's distracted mood, "What is it? You aren't going to start freaking out now, are you? Because you should know that I'm not done having my own panic attack. You'll have to wait at least until we get to Hermione to have your own breakdown."

Harry rolled his eyes, "I am not going to have a break down. I was just thinking...did you notice the implication that he wouldn't be displeased if we actually went to him for advice about things other than the common rooms? Because that's what it sounded like to me. I think I might actually be in shock. First we actually got our way with all of this, and then Snape has decided he might actually like me. Have we been dropped into an alternate universe or something and I just hadn't noticed?"

"He's a lot different when he doesn't hate you, isn't he?" Draco said jokingly. He sobered quickly, going on to say, "Honestly, he's changed a lot since the war. I think he feels like he can finally do things he wants to do with less worry about the expectations that everyone else puts on him. This might be the first time since he was in school that he feels like he doesn't have someone constantly telling him what to do. He's his own master now, and I think that's made him a much better person. He's certainly more approachable than he used to be."

That actually made a lot of sense to Harry. He'd gone through some similar things when the war was finally finished, realizing just how much of his life he'd spent endlessly trying to please other people and live up to their expectations. Now he only wanted to live up to his own. Consequentially, his own expectations were now a lot higher than he thought they had ever been before, but he didn't really see that as a bad thing. In a lot of ways, now that he'd survived a war he was never sure he would, he felt like he could demand such high standards from himself and actually succeed. It was a nice feeling.

"Well, it's nice to know we've got someone we can go complain to," Harry said, grinning mischievously at Draco who just snorted in amusement. "Come on, if we hurry we can still catch everyone, or nearly everyone, in the common room before they head to dinner. Most of them will probably be waiting for us anyways. You know how quickly news travels in this school. Everyone probably already knows that we were summoned to McGonagall's office, so they'll be expecting news."

Looking a little peeved at that, Draco said, "Ugh, you're right. That’s one of the worst things about this place, you know. There's no such thing as a bloody secret here! How are we going to keep all of this from getting out?"

Remembering some of the curses that Hermione had found when looking up things for the DA, Harry just smiled a bit sadistically, "Don't worry, I think Hermione and I will have the perfect thing for that. We'll have to include the Seventh Years in it, since most of them know at least vaguely about the project. And if there's any resistance, well, we'll just drag Professor Snape into it."

"I'll just leave that to the two of you then, shall I?" Draco asked, eyeing the other boy a little uncertainly as they reached the common room. "Ready to face the masses?"

Harry shook his head, but moved forward anyways, "Not even remotely. More like one small mass, though they can be just as loud as a much larger group..."Upon setting foot into the room there was an uproar of noise that had him grumble out, "Case in point."

Finally they got a bit further into the room and clearly getting annoyed by the amount of noise, Draco climbed up onto a chair and whistled loudly. The noise stopped rather abruptly. "Honestly, how you lot expect to find out anything when you're being so bloody loud is beyond me." The blond stopped to look at Harry, seeming to wonder if he wanted to give the news himself, but Harry just motioned him on. He was more than happy to let Draco take the lead on things like this. This was something that Draco had been working hard towards, and even though it was a shared project, he deserved most of the credit on things so far. Also, Harry was still trying to stay out of the limelight as much as possible these days. He was more than a little confident in Draco's capabilities as a leader.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter! Hope you like it!

Draco was a bit surprised at the easy way Harry kept letting him take control of things. He knew that Harry valued control more than most people did, especially now. He also doubted that he would have handed over the reins to nearly anyone else with as little fuss as he'd done for Draco. Regardless, Draco was apparently in charge of sharing the news, whether he'd actually wanted the job or not.

"Alright, so the meeting went well, apparently," he told them, and was met with another round of cheers before he could get anything else out. He was a bit annoyed that they weren't letting him get a complete thought out, but he understood being excited about it. After a couple of minutes they settled, and Draco continued, "The House table change will be announced tonight at dinner. In addition, for classes that Houses share, inter-House partners will be assigned for the rest of the year to test out the system. And, finally, the common room project has been approved too. Which doesn't mean we should stand around celebrating. I mean, we should celebrate, but maybe after the twenty million things we need to start working on to make sure this goes accordingly."

There were several laughs and a few more cheers from the small crowd, and everyone was beaming at the two of them as though he and Harry had hung the moon. It was a little ridiculous, really, but he couldn't really disagree with the attention. "So we'll start discussing things tonight after dinner," he said when it was mostly quiet, before climbing off of his chair with as much grace as he could muster.

“You do realize,” he told Harry as he moved to stand next to the boy while the rest of their friends and Year mates started talking about the common rooms and heading out for dinner, “that we’re going to spend half of our time corralling a bunch of hooligans, don’t you?”

He was met with a raised brow as Hermione, Ron, Pansy, and Blaise joined them, “You didn’t know that already? Poor Draco. Besides, that’s what we have Hermione for. She’ll keep everyone in line. So as long as we keep Seamus away from anything too flammable and Greg away from frightening First Years, I think we’ll be fine. Oh, and keep Peeves away from all of it. That last one might be the absolute most difficult of the entire thing. I know he’s been oddly quiet this year, but somehow I don’t think that’s going to hold long enough for us to do all of this. Especially since the unused classrooms are his favorite playground.”

Hermione mock-glared at the two of them rather indignantly. "I'm to be a glorified baby sitter, then? I think not. If you really think we'll need someone for that, you might actually consider asking Ginny to do it."

One raised blond brow indicated Draco's confusion, "Why would Ginny Weasley be good at corralling this particular set of hooligans?"

The Weasley in current attendance of their party as they headed towards the Great Hall grinned brightly at him, "She grew up with six brothers and Mum. She's got down the ordering people thing quite well at this point."

"He's right, actually," Pansy said from where she was walking on the opposite side of him from Harry, "She's been helping younger students for the last couple of years, and she's really good at keeping their attention. If anyone can keep them in line outside of Hermione, it will be her."

"Fine," Draco mumbled as they made their way into the Great Hall. They seemed to be some of the last students there, a few other stragglers following behind them. Almost as soon as they sat down the Headmistress stood up to give a rather short announcement outlining the things they had already discussed. As he'd heard most of it already, Draco found himself tuning it out and instead watching the reactions of the other students. No one at their table was surprised, of course, and many of the Seventh Years were less surprised than the rest of the school. The reactions on the younger students ran more to shocked and apprehensive, along with a rather large heaping of excitement. McGonagall had apparently dictated that the new seating arrangements would be put into effect the next morning. 

When he finally snapped out of the mild daze he had been in he noticed that Harry had been trying to get his attention, "Sorry, what?"

"I was asking whether you thought we were caught up enough in classes to spend a couple of days working just on the planning? Before we do much else, we'll have to pick out the classrooms, I think," Harry said, watching him curiously. 

He thought about that for a moment. Since they'd started working together they were almost always a week or so ahead on their assignments, so they probably could put off school work for a day or two to focus on their latest adventure. Life with Harry around was never boring, at least. "We should be. I think we’ve got all of our assignments except for the two assigned today finished, so I don't see why not. I think after we talk to everyone about what they can do to help for the next couple of days, then if we aren't held up for too long, we can go look at a couple of the classrooms on the approved list. While we're doing that, we can keep an eye out for paintings too. And we need to remember to let people know that this is meant to stay secret. Maybe we should gather the Seventh Years and meet in one of the classrooms first, so that we can impose the 'don't blab about the common rooms' rule," he said, considering the amount of rumors that could be spread in a single day.

"That's probably a good idea. Which room do you think we should use? Maybe one on the third floor?" the green-eyed boy asked him rather earnestly. It was still odd for him to have that much of Harry's attention, though he certainly wasn't complaining.

He thought it over for a moment, the third floor had three approved rooms, and one of them was farther back in a maze of small hallways that would probably make a perfect common room, if he was remembering the location right. "Maybe the one farthest back? By the statute of that sleeping dragon? I think that one should work for tonight, and maybe one of the rooms."

Once they'd agreed on what room they were going to use it didn't take them long to spread the word to the Eighth Years and ask them to gather the Seventh Years as well. When that was in order, he turned back to Harry and Hermione, who had apparently already been going over ways to keep the project a secret. "Didn't you guys have a way to send out notifications of upcoming meetings too? That would be helpful when we need to have meetings to discuss anything."

The bushy haired girl seemed rather pleased at being asked for such things and fairly beamed at him, "Don't worry, I can have something set up by tomorrow. I think for tonight we should just worry about the group keeping it quiet, and setting up a meeting for tomorrow evening to go over anything else that might need to be covered with the group that's actually helping. Since there aren't that many Seventh Years actually helping us, it should be fairly easy to keep track of everyone. I think, instead of the more harsh curse we used for the DA, we should just enchant the parchment so that everyone who signs it is magically bound not to speak about the project with anyone not involved until it's completion is announced."

"If it was anyone else, I would be asking if you could actually do that on such short notice, but since it's you I'm going to just take it on faith that if you say you can do it, you can," he told her confidently. He'd yet to see the girl claim she could do something and then not be able to pull it off, so he trusted her to do what she said she was going to. He had a feeling the whole project was likely to move a lot more smoothly with her helping them. Of course, he wasn't entirely sure whether or not that would be countered by the ever destructive Finnegan and the slightly less clumsy than before Longbottom, but he could hope. 

Harry was smiling at him, clearly pleased by how well he was getting along with Hermione. Just seeing that look on his face made it more than worth the effort to get along with the boy's friends. "We can ask Ginny to be an on sight manager when we aren't currently in the area too," Harry said, "It sounds better than baby sitter, and it'll make her feel more important. Actually, I was thinking that we should have at least one person as an on sight sort of manager for every room we're working on. I didn't think we'd be working on more than two or three at a time, but it would still be good to have someone who knows exactly what everyone should be doing and what the guidelines are."

"That's probably a good idea, Harry," Hermione said, still preening over the rather blatant compliment Draco had just given her.

Draco agreed completely. It was a big enough project with too many people involved not to have a chain of command. He glanced around him at the still chattering Eighth Years, “Alright, so I think we should leave the gathering of the Seventh Years to the others, and the three of us should head to the classroom early to get a couple of things settled so we aren’t rushing around trying to get everything perfect after they’re already there.”

Hermione and Harry both gave their assent and within five minutes the three of them had made their excuses, passed on the responsibility of gathering Seventh years, and were on their way to the third floor room they had picked out. It didn't take them long to get there, and the room, though rather dusty, seemed to be a perfect fit for a common room. It was a large cavernous space that had rounded out corners and no sharp edges. On one side of the room there were windows overlooking the pitch and the forest, making for a rather nice view. 

Grinning brightly at Draco, Harry said, "I don't think we'll need to look at any of the other rooms on this floor, do you?"

He grinned back, rather pleased that they were in agreement on the room. "It's perfect. I'm actually sort of jealous that this one isn't ours. It sort of reminds me of the Slytherin common room, but a little more open. It's got good potential."

"I think you're right. This space will be perfect, I think. There's only a few chairs and tables that we'll need to fix up or move out... It shouldn't be too much work," Hermione said sitting down in one of the dusty chairs she had just mentioned. "Now, I know we need the charmed parchment, what else do we need to do before the rest of them get here?"

Draco cast a simple cleaning spell that cleared out all of the dust before sitting down in another chair by her at the table, "Well, when we were talking about managers and such, it got me thinking that perhaps having a clear cut chain of command before we even really started working on things would be good for everyone. This way, we can pick who to put in charge, without as much interference from the others. Most of them will mean well, but Professor Snape would like to see this all done by the time everyone comes back from Christmas break. We need this to happen efficiently with a minimal amount of fuss, and that won't happen if we put, say, Greg, in charge of anything."

Finally coming to join them after walking around the room several times, Harry slid into the last chair at their table. "I think that might be for the best. If we have a list written out of who to go to first for certain things, that might help too. Maybe we should take into consideration who was a prefect as well. Hannah and Padma might be good at helping out with the organization, and Pansy, obviously."

Eyes narrowed dangerously, Hermione said, "Obviously, and where exactly am I on that list?"

Draco exchanged a look across the table at Harry and the two of them couldn't help but start laughing. For the brightest witch of her age, Hermione could apparently miss a lot of very obvious things. "If we were going to give you a menial manager's position, do you really think we would have included you in this meeting? We could have had you charm the paper earlier, or when you got here, you know."

"Honestly, Mione, try to keep up, won't you? You're going to be..." here Harry paused, apparently counting or something of the sort, before continuing, "Fourth in command, I think. Is that right?" He'd turned to Draco, clearly expecting him to know for certain already where most everyone was on the list of people in charge.

"If we're putting Professor Snape as, what, faculty advisor at the top, then the two of us, then Hermione, yes, that's the correct order," he told them calmly, looking over at Hermione.

The girl was torn between that pleased look and looking as though she wanted to smack both of them rather soundly. "Well, alright then, I suppose that's a good spot to be in. So if Snape is the Faculty Advisor, the two of you are the, hm, Head of Project?"

Harry was cringing now, apparently not at all amused by whatever the girl's train of thought might turn out to be, "Maybe we should just have a list of people to contact without trying to give us all special names. We'll just make a list starting with Snape and ending with the on sight type managers. You know I hate titles, even ones like that."

"Actually, having titles might just cause more confusion, so just a simple list would probably be more effective for everyone involved. Alright, Harry and I will start on the list and make another list of possible managers, if you want to start charming that paper, Hermione," Draco directed, taking control of the proceedings once again, 

By the time she was done charming the paper, he and Harry had a small list consisting of Ginny, Padma Patil, Hannah Abbot, Ron (simply on the grounds that he had Prefect experience), and Pansy, along with everyone up to Hermione listed neatly in Draco's handwriting on another piece of parchment. Harry was originally going to write that one out, but Draco quickly remembered the boy's atrocious handwriting and took over that particular task. If they wanted anyone to be able to read the list it was better that it not be in Harry's untidy scrawl. Draco had learned to decipher it while he was working so closely with the boy, but he knew that not everyone could read it as easily as he could.

"Alright," Harry said, sliding the new list or possible managers to Hermione, "What do you think?"

She looked over the list for just a moment before she looked up, "You should probably take Ron off, or use him as a backup. He's not as motivated as the others on here are. Otherwise I think this is a good list. It also opens up time for everyone. It means that there will almost always be someone available besides you two. I was thinking, too, that maybe we should use one of these other rooms that are extras as a sort of headquarters while we're working on the project. If we didn't have some Seventh Years helping us out, we could do everything in the common room. Since we can't, it might be a good idea to have a room where there's a list of what needs to be done and such."

"That's probably a really good idea, Hermione. It'll have to be warded to keep people who aren't working on the project away from the room. Maybe we could convince one of the portraits to guard it for the project," Harry said thoughtfully. 

He agreed with the idea too, "It really would be a lot easier to keep track of everything if there was a specific place we're using to keep up with what's happening where. It could get confusing, especially with this many people," he said, standing up when he heard footsteps drawing closer to the room. Ron and Pansy appeared to be leading the rather large group of people into the room. The odd sights never seemed to end, really. He'd never in his life expected to see Pansy and Ron doing anything like that together, especially while talking like good friends. At first he'd thought that everyone was coming in at once, but then he realized that they had staggered the group entries, probably to avoid more suspicion than was already present through the rest of the student body. 

When Hermione finally signaled to him that everyone was there, Draco decided that since standing on a chair in the common room had worked, it would probably work here too. "Alright, thank you all for coming. I know most of you aren't actually helping with the project because of N.E.W.T.s, but it's been decided that until the project is complete, it will remain a secret. In order to do that, everyone is being asked to sign a paper that, until the charm is removed when the project is finished, will keep you from talking to anyone who isn't working on the common rooms about it. All it will do is start you off speaking on a different tangent, so it isn't harmful at all. Any other questions about the charm should be directed to Hermione Granger. The paper is set up here at the table next to me, and for those of you who aren't participating in the project; you can leave as soon as you've signed it. If everyone else could stay behind for a little bit, we'd appreciate it."

Draco was rather proud of the way his little speech had gone, and happy that there was a minimal fuss while people asked Hermione about the charm or signed the paper. Harry came to stand next to him once the paper had been signed by everyone and they were down to only those participating left in the room. "Alright Harry, your turn." 

Harry huffed at him, still clearly against the idea of doing any of the speaking if he could avoid it. But Draco and Hermione had decided that everyone needed to realize that Harry was heading the project just as much as Draco was, and that they would need to listen to him as well. "Alright guys, so we're still working on some things that have to happen before we can actually start working on the rooms. Until we pick out a new headquarters tomorrow, this will be our meeting place. Tomorrow before dinner we're going to meet here, and we'll have the location of our actual headquarters available to you. We've decided that we need some people to help manage the project, especially when Draco or I can't actually be in whatever room we're working on. There's a list on the back wall of who we'll have in charge in the rooms when we aren't there, as well as listing Hermione as another person besides myself and Draco you can go to with questions or concerns.”

The meeting went smoothly after that, with them just giving a basic run down of what they wanted to do for the common rooms. Hermione handed around a list of spells she thought would be helpful for all of them to learn, and before Draco knew it, they were finished and all of them were heading back to their common rooms. Draco and Harry split off from the group of Eighth Years that they had been walking with to look at a couple of the other classrooms.

The two of them walked in silence until they reached the first classroom on the fourth floor that they were going to look at. It was smaller than the one they had already picked out, and somehow Draco didn't think it would be big enough to hold rambunctious students. "It's too small, I think. There's another one on this floor that's approved, so we can go look at that one and see if it's big enough."

"Good idea. I was actually thinking that there was a painting not far from here that we might be able to convince to guard one of the higher years," Harry told him, looking a little unsure about it.

Draco watched the boy curiously, wondering why he would hesitate, "Okay, which painting is it that you want to ask?"

Harry gave him a tentative half smile, turning and walking to the door of the too small classroom, "I think it might be better if I show you." 

He was led down the corridor about twenty feet before Harry came to a stop in front of a painting that Draco could rarely remember seeing awake. "The Sphinx? You want to ask a Sphinx to guard a common room? Are you entirely sure that's a good idea?"

Rolling his eyes, Harry turned towards the painting, stepping closer to it, "Hush Draco. This is Akila. I started visiting her a couple of years ago. I faced a Sphinx in the Tri-Wizard Tournament, so I have an appreciation for them that most people really don't. Anyways, I think she would make a wonderful guardian for the Seventh Year room. Akila, wake up you lazy feline."

When the Sphinx in the picture opened her eyes to small slits and yawned widely, Draco was more than a little surprised, but not as surprised as he was a moment later when she got up and sat on her haunches to watch them haughtily before speaking. "I see you've finally brought the littlest Dragon to meet me."

He wasn't actually sure if he should be offended at the form of address or pleased that Harry talked about him enough that even a painting knew who he was. Either way, it would be a poor judgment call to offend a Sphinx, even if it was only oil paint on canvas animated by magic. He inclined his head slightly in a bow before saying, "It is an honor to meet you Akila."

"My, my, a visitor with manners. I am most impressed, young one. Now, you mentioned something about needing a guardian? Perhaps you should enlighten me on the subject little snake," Akila said, clearly addressing Harry. The nick name gave him pause for a moment until he remembered that Harry had retained his gift of Parsletongue and that was probably where she had made the connection to call him a snake. It wasn't an entirely inaccurate description. Harry certainly had a knack for some of the Slytherin qualities that he valued, with self-preservation and cunning right at the top of the list. 

Harry brightened immediately, turning a rather brilliant smirk on Akila, "Oh, interested are you? We've been allowed to take on a project to help unite the school. The Eighth Years and some of the Seventh Years will be making common rooms throughout the castle for every Year group to have as their own, with no division of House. Consequently, that means that we need guardians for the Common Rooms. Of course, those guardians would have to be even tempered and nice to the students whose common room is being guarded." The last bit was said slyly, and Draco noted that Harry had become rather good at manipulation as well. Or perhaps he had always been good at it, and Draco was only just now noticing the skill. Regardless of how it had happened, he certainly approved.

"I don't suppose you might know any paintings that would be interested in such a thing? We'll need seven in total of course, and Professor Snape has decreed that he must approve all choices, as well," Draco said, noting the slightly indignant look that the creature gave him. How she reacted to such statements would tell them whether or not she would be suitable as such a guardian, though she would still have to pass whichever test Snape might give to her.

She studied the two of them for a moment in a way that rather reminded Draco of the Headmistress. "I am more than capable of being caring to those that I am meant to protect. A Sphinx is most happy when we have a treasure to guard, you know. We're rather like dragons in that way." She paused to consider for a moment, then yawned widely before continuing on, "If you agree to include me in the list of paintings to be considered, I may be persuaded to give you a list of us that might enjoy guarding your new common rooms."

"Well," Harry said, clearly amused by the on goings, "I suppose we could make such a trade. It seems rather harmless to me, and profitable to both sides, don't you agree Draco?"

Momentarily surprised at being included in the repartee, Draco nodded, "Quite, most advantageous indeed." The Sphinx looked rather smug now, clearly pleased with the little game they had played. Draco wondered for a moment if she could play chess, and if she would be as formidable a foe as he was imagining of her. 

Purring, Akila said, "Wonderful! You might want to get a bit of parchment out to write this down." She waited patiently for Harry to do so, and continued, "Anna-Maria on the second floor is soft spoken and helpful, a most attentive painting that might be well suited to the First Year students. The Potions Master Caleb that resides in the dungeons near the Potions class rooms..." Harry continued scribbling down notes as the list went on. True to her word, Akila gave them a list of twenty or so paintings that she believed would fit the criteria for guardians, and the warning that some of them could be short when disturbed, though she seemed to deem that it was a product of loneliness. 

"Most of the paintings I have listed are over looked and mildly reclusive. Do not let that frighten you away from them. They merely crave a contact that they have been denied. Some of them may be too set in their ways to help you, but others will jump at the opportunity if asked correctly. Of course, I leave it to you to decide what the correct way to ask them might be. Now, as I understand it, you have rather a lot of work to get done over the next few days. Go and check your last classroom of the night, and do remember to visit once in a while, won't you?" Akila smiled beguilingly at them before swiping her paw in a shooing motion to send them away. The two of them said their goodbyes and reassured her that they would be back to visit soon before moving onto the next room on the floor.

He immediately decided that this room would be much more suitable for their needs. Though not nearly as hidden as their third floor room, this room was just as big and well placed so that it blended in with all of the other odd doors in the corridor. They quickly made a note of the room, both deciding that it would be perfect for one of the common rooms.

They picked out a room on the fifth floor as well before deciding it was probably time to head back to their common room. On their way back, Harry hummed thoughtfully, "You know, even though that first room on the second floor was too small for a common room, it might actually work pretty well as our headquarters. Especially since we won't all be in there at once very often. There are still tables and chairs in there, along with the black board that we could use to keep notes on too."

"You're probably right. With it already being fairly well set up, it really doesn't make sense for us to keep looking for a headquarters when we'll need it by tomorrow anyways. If we just use that one, then it gives us more time to look at the other rooms tomorrow and decide which ones we want to use and give a list of them to Professor Snape. I think we should give him the list of paintings too, and we can talk to them while we actually work on the rooms and decide who would be best where when it gets closer to actually using the rooms. It will give us a better idea of how well they'll be suited and to which year they might be best suited if we talk to them fairly often for a while," Draco said, leading them into their own common room. Most of the time he barely noticed the journey through the halls of the castle now, perhaps because he'd been in residence for so long that he navigated it the same way he would navigate his own house.

The rest of their night was spent discussing things with their chosen managers and listening to random ideas that their year mates had about the rooms. Most of the things brought up had already been considered, but they listened patiently, or mostly patiently, anyways. Draco had finally started mostly tuning other people out and was spending a great deal of the time Harry watching instead. It was odd to be sharing so much of Harry's attention with other people. He'd gotten used to having the other boy's undivided attention, and he wasn't really sure how he felt about having to share it.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I only have one more chapter already written, but I'm hoping it won't take me long to write more. Let me know what you think of the chapter?

The next morning Harry was faced with an entirely too cheerful Ron a whole hour earlier than the red head was usually awake, and at least thirty minutes earlier than Harry wanted to be awake. He groaned at the sight of his friend, rolled over and pulled the covers over his head in an attempt to block out whatever horrifying experience his friend likely had in store for him. "Whatever it is you want, the answer is no," he grumbled out, not really caring if Ron could hear him or not.

"Honestly Harry, I haven't even said anything yet! Anyways, Malfoy's already up and about and asked me to wake you up so you could finish looking at classrooms before breakfast. When does he even sleep?" Ron said, rushing through the sentences with something rather like smugness slithering into his words. Harry wondered if he was about to get needled about how close he and Draco were, but before he could try and head Ron off, his friend started up again. "You know what he said when I asked him why he didn't just wake you up himself? He said that he didn't want to be on the volatile end of your temper, and then he mumbled something about you looking entirely too peaceful to wake up. I know you're still working out your feelings and whatever, but the boy is seriously gone on you."

Harry huffed, glaring from a slit in the covers where he knew Ron could just barely see him. "Not. Helping. Lay off, alright? Draco and I will work...that...out when we're ready, between the two of us, without your interference! Ugh, just go do something productive. Like telling him I'll be down in a minute or something. Just go do something away from me before I hex you." He was probably over reacting, but after the dream he'd had about Draco the night before, of a rather morally dubious nature, at least in his mind, he really didn't want to talk about getting together with the blond. Or the blond. He wasn't entirely sure how he was going to spend a bunch of time with Draco that day without giving away that something had happened. He was pretty sure he'd never be able to look at him the same way again, and while that probably wasn't a bad thing, it also wasn't the best thing when he was still trying to figure out where the two of them stood in their relationship. Which they didn't have. Because they were just friends. 

Ron was rolling his eyes but grinning, clearly something of what he was thinking was showing across his face, and then the red head was gone and leaving him to get ready for his day in peace. Normally Harry would be happy it was a Friday, but knowing that he would most likely be spending a ton of his weekend with Draco just made him feel uncomfortable. He was pretty sure that about a million butterflies, or maybe bees, had taken residence in his stomach, and maybe his heart too. If that was the reaction of just thinking about Draco, seeing him was bound to make it a thousand times worse. He groaned as he pulled himself out of bed and got ready, already anticipating an absolutely ridiculous amount of blushing and stammering in his future, not to mention the gloating from Ron. It probably said something really unhealthy about his psyche that he would have rather faced another dark lord at that particular moment than one of his closest friends turned crush, and he'd thought that the school year had started out so well, too.

Harry was immediately suspicious when he walked into the common room. First the room was a lot louder than it would normally be that time of day, apparently because Dean and Seamus were having what he thought looked like a rather interesting though very loud discussion about what quidditch team was best with Blaise and Greg. The next thing that made him look twice and frown was Draco and Ron talking quietly at a table while Hermione sat next to them reading a book. The second part wasn't unusual, but Ron and Draco talking without Harry there to mediate? That was downright frightening. Somehow he didn't think he was going to like whatever the two of them had been talking about. 

"I'm not sure I actually want to know what's going on here," he said as he reached the table his friends were sitting at. He was right. Actually seeing Draco sent the butterflies spiraling out of control until Harry decided that they were dragons instead. It was rather appropriate, really. It was going to be a long day, and probably an even longer weekend.

Draco looked so relieved to see him that Harry held his breath for a moment. "Oh thank Merlin. Harry, you have to save me. Ronald is insisting on trying to get to know me. You have to make him stop!"

Considering how invested Ron seemed to be in getting Harry and Draco together, and really who would have ever thought that was going to happen, Harry was a little disturbed and weary of his friend trying to actually get to know Draco. If he wasn't careful, all of his friends would be ganging up on him to get him with the other boy. Realizing he'd been staring blankly at the scene for a second or twenty too long, he cleared his throat lightly, "Right, Ron said you wanted to check out the rest of the classrooms before breakfast? If we leave now we might have time."

The smile Draco sent his way was almost blinding not only in its intensity but also in its sincerity and the dragons started flailing around all over again. The two of them were quiet as they made their way up to the sixth floor to look at a room. Harry wondered if Draco was just taking into account that Harry was sometimes introspective and quiet in the mornings, or if he had something on his own mind. Whatever the reason, Harry was grateful for the moments of peace while he tried to gather his wits and tame the dragons that wouldn't seem to settle down in his stomach. 

After several minutes of one of the most awkward silences that the two of them had had since they had become friends, Draco finally spoke. "So, I'm going to assume if you're upset with me or something you would tell me, and that you just had a crappy night or something. Ron said you were in a weird mood earlier. You know I'll always listen if you have something you need to get out. And now that I have that out of the way," the blond said, apparently trying to gloss over the first part of what he said as if now that he'd said it they didn't need to acknowledge it again. "I was actually wondering what attracted you to the Sphinx. I mean, I know you faced one in fourth year, but I don't think that can be the only reason. You always have some odd reason that no one else would even think of behind things like that."

The question caught Harry off guard for a moment. No one had thought to ask him something like that before or even noticed that he usually had more than just the most obvious reason for things like that. That Draco paid that much attention to him, while it wasn't news exactly, it was still odd for Harry. He sighed, walking into the room they were meant to be looking at, before he answered, "Bill, the oldest Weasley kid, was a curse breaker in Egypt for a while before he came back here to help with the war. I actually spent quite a bit of time with him a couple of summers ago, and he used to tell me stories about his job and all of the things they found in Egypt. It got me really interested in the ancient Egyptian culture, and the Sphinx was part of that. When I first started talking to Akila, she told me stories of the pharaohs and things like that too."

 

"Huh," wasn't at all the response that Harry had anticipated from Draco, and it made him turn to look at the other boy almost accusingly. Draco just smiled at him, "I don't know what I expected you to say. I think I sort of expected it to be the one time you didn't have a deeper reason for something seemingly random. I think it's great that you have interests like that. I've always thought the ancient cultures were fascinating."

Neither one of them said anything for several minutes; apparently both of them had decided that there was no need to go further on the topic. Instead they spent those minutes looking around the room, which was the only one on the approved list for the sixth floor. The room was big enough, but a bit darker than Harry would prefer for a common room. When he mentioned that to Draco, the other boy shrugged.

"It's simple enough to charm the walls to look like windows or something. Or, it probably is for Hermione. We can ask her about that later. Since it's the only room on this floor we can use, we sort of need to use it. Especially since we decided that we didn't want to use the seventh floor or any of the towers, and we only wanted one room down in the dungeons. It sort of limits us on being picky here. I think it would be too cluttered to have more than one of the year common rooms on one floor. It's one thing to have a public common room and a private year room on the same floor, but two year common rooms would just be too much," Draco said, turning in a circle, apparently to get a better feel for the room.

"It'll just take more work than some of the others," Harry said, inspecting the dark walls closely. "Alright, well, there's not really anything we can do here today, let's head to the next floor, yeah?" Harry started moving towards the door, walking past Draco on his way. 

Instead of letting Harry pass so they could move onto looking at another room, though, he grabbed Harry's wrist in a move reminiscent of the scene from only a couple of days before. "You would tell me if I'd done something to upset you, right?" he asked Harry uncertainly as they faced each other, their bodies a lot closer than Harry was actually completely comfortable with at the time. He couldn't actually be upset, because for the first time since he'd gotten up the dragons that had been rampaging in his stomach seemed to have calmed, and wasn't that just the weirdest thing ever? Maybe he should ask Hermione about that...

Shaking his head, he said, "Yes, I would. It's nothing really, okay? I'm just being sort of, I dunno, I guess everything is catching up to me. I might be just a little stressed out or something. But I'm fine."

One blond brow rose in disbelief, "Really? Because you're usually more talkative, even this early. And even if you aren't talking, you never walk as far away from me as you've been doing this morning. If we didn't need to work so closely together over the next couple of days on the common rooms, I might have been able to let you go through whatever's going on in that head of yours on your own terms, but we aren't going to have much time away from each other, so whatever I did, or said, it would be easier for you to just have it out with me now."

“I don’t need to bloody have it out with you! It’s really nothing that you did or anything, so there isn’t an argument happening or whatever you think is going on. Really, I just woke up and didn’t have a particularly great start to my day,” Harry told him, rubbing the back of his neck. It really wasn’t a lie. There wasn’t anything specific that Draco was doing besides being himself, and it wasn’t really Draco Harry was having issues with. The problem was that Harry was having issues with dealing with his own feelings, and that probably wasn’t something that Draco would really be able to help him with. The point was, it wasn’t a lie. “Anyways, how do you think your morning would start out if the first thing you saw was red hair and freckles?”

He hadn’t really been sure that the tactic would work, but Draco’s lips twitched into a smile anyways. “Alright, you might have a point there. I guess I’m just so used to you telling me everything, or nearly everything, that it feels off when you don’t. Even if it’s something stupid… And I’m not going to forget this, because I still feel like there’s something you’re leaving out, but as long as you aren’t mad at me or something, I guess I can let it go for now. We might have to wait on checking the dungeons and the bottom floors until lunch…I don’t think we’re going to have time to eat if we don’t go straight to breakfast now.”

Harry was thankful that Draco was letting it drop, though the look in the other boy’s eyes said that he really wouldn’t forget about it and that he’d bring it up again when Harry was least expecting it. For now, Harry focused on not acting any differently than he normally did. Oddly enough, the more awkward he acted around Draco the worse the feeling in his stomach got. Once he stopped acting like Draco was going to bite him, or more accurately kiss him, he felt a lot better than he had. He wondered if that meant he didn’t like Draco as much as he thought he did, or if that meant he liked him more. He really needed to get Hermione alone to ask the girl what she made of it, and soon.

 

Lunch time was the same story, second chapter. Now that they knew what they wanted for a basic criterion of the rooms, it was easy to choose the ones that would best serve their needs. Draco, for the moment at least, seemed to have forgotten about Harry acting so oddly that morning and had thrown himself into the organization of their group of minions as he was referring to everyone who had signed up to help them with their project. Harry was grateful for the momentary reprieve of dealing with his emotions, even if he did know that taking on dealing with them later was probably going to be worse and that he was going to get an earful about it from Hermione when he finally managed to talk to her about it. 

He was actually going to get a chance, it looked like, since after their last class Draco had told Harry and Hermione that he had to get something from their common room so the two of them headed off to their temporary meeting place. Ron was bringing Neville, since the other boy was hopeless with the maze of corridors it took to get there.

“Um, Hermione? Do you think we could find somewhere to talk privately for just a moment before we go to the meeting?” Harry asked her tentatively. He knew she wouldn’t mind helping him with his issues, but he also knew that she was a stickler for punctuality. 

She gave him a rather calculating look but pulled him into an alcove after checking that no one was looking. “Is this about whatever’s been bothering you today? Ron seems to think you’ll be fine, but Draco and I were both a bit worried about how awkward you were this morning.”

Harry stared at her, “When did the two of you even have time to discuss that? Never mind, I don’t think I want to know. But yeah, it is. I mean, kind of. Mostly? I’m really not good at this.”

“Just start with whatever it was that made you feel awkward in the first place Harry. You must know that, at least,” she told him, one hand on her hip as she stared at him.

He wondered if that would have been the dream or waking up with Ron standing over him. Probably a mixture of the two. “Er, I might have had a dream about Draco. A, um, not exactly a friend appropriate dream. And then I woke up to Ron standing over me, and he was being pushy about the whole thing.” He stopped talking for a moment to assess the look on Hermione’s face, and when it was just encouraging, he sighed and went on, “And then I sort of noticed that thinking about him makes me feel like there are dragons rampaging in my stomach. And it was worse when I saw him, but it got better after I stopped acting like an idiot and trying to avoid him while not actually avoiding him. None of it makes any sense.”

Hermione watched him as he tugged on his hair for a moment, “None of that is exactly abnormal you know. Most of it just means that you like him rather a lot. Though feeling less agitated when you’re closer to him makes it seem like your subconscious is already rather reliant on him for things like support. Honestly Harry, I don’t think that any of that is really a bad thing.”

“So, you mean to tell me that I’m actually reacting in… I dunno, a normal way?” Harry asked her, thoroughly confused.

“Yes Harry,” She said patiently, “That is exactly what I’m saying. I think that you and Draco have spent so much time together that it’s more comfortable for you to be near each other than apart. Honestly, I think it’s really good that you have someone you feel that you can trust enough to relax that much around. I know you have Ron and me, but I also know it isn’t the same. And the dream…well, personally I think that’s normal when you like someone that much anyways. All I can suggest is to talk to him, and not to shut him out. He was sort of panicked this morning when he thought you might have been angry with him.”

He wrinkled his nose; talking to Draco about all of this was low on his to-do list. “Hermione, I cannot just talk to him about this. Honestly, it’s Draco we’re talking about! It was hard enough to say anything to you! What am I supposed to do, bring it up to him later while we’re working on the common rooms? ‘Hey Draco, by the way, I’ve been having totally inappropriate dreams about you and apparently you make me more comfortable when you’re near me than you do when you’re far away.’ Yeah, I see that going really well Hermione.”

The bushy haired girl sighed heavily, “Harry, I know you’re actually more observant than people give you credit for, but in this case you are being purposefully obtuse. Draco cares for you deeply. I doubt he would be anything but thrilled to find that you had similar feelings for him as well. But, if you insist on ignoring this for now, which I think is a mistake, I promise I won’t say anything. Just promise me that you will tell him eventually if you still have these feelings for him.”

Knowing that if the feelings really didn’t go away he would have to mention it to his friend he nodded, “I will, eventually. Just, there’s so much going on right now. Speaking of which, as much as I appreciate the talk and the help, if we don’t leave now Draco will beat us there and wonder why we didn’t get there before him.”

The two of them continued on to the future common room, getting there barely three minutes before Draco arrived and strode towards them purposefully. He handed Hermione a book and said, “I found this in the bookshelves in the common room, and I thought it might have a useful spell or two for this.”

The actual meeting was uneventful. Harry and Draco took turns explaining about what their plans were so far, including the color schemes and the rooms they had chosen. They even mentioned the list of paintings they were going to be handing in to narrow down the search for the common room guardians. Hermione handed out the repurposed DA coins that would let everyone know if there was going to be a meeting or if something important was happening that they would put up a notice about. After the location for the new headquarters was disclosed, they arranged to meet again Saturday after breakfast so that they could begin learning the spells and set to work.

People started filtering out fairly quickly once things were finished, and Hermione copied down the locations of the classrooms so that she and Ron could go and look at them before dinner. That left Harry and Draco alone, which Harry realized was actually more normal than the two of them being surrounded by other people by this point.

“I know we said we would work exclusively on the common rooms for the next couple of days, but do you fancy going out by the lake and looking over that potions chapter for the half hour or so we have before dinner?” Draco asked him, looking rather hopeful.

It wasn’t a look that Harry was good at saying no to, although he’d had plenty of chances to learn to. Honestly though, usually that look was followed by a request for something so simple that it seemed stupid not to go along with what the blond wanted. So far it hadn’t gotten him into any real trouble… Well, unless you counted the dream. Regardless, Harry agreed and they made their way out, talking quietly all the while about plans for furnishing and decorating the rooms and which people would work well together. 

It was still lovely outside, the chill of autumn just barely settling on the air. “Alright, we’re on the chapter about the more complex healing potions, right?” Harry asked him, settling down under one of his favorite trees.

“Yeah. You know, there’s potions that correct eye sight. I probably wouldn’t attempt one without trying it out on someone I didn’t actually care about, but Professor Snape could probably brew one to help with yours. Since, you know, it’s atrocious…like your glasses,” Draco told him grinning slyly at him.

Snorting, Harry said, “That entire statement was offensive from beginning to end. I also worry about who you would get to try out the potion for you.” Harry thought about it for a moment. He hated wearing glasses, sure, and it would be nice to actually be able to see first thing when he woke up, especially when he was having a nightmare and couldn’t always remember where he was right away. That few seconds of absolute panic that he always had while he tried to get his glasses on and figure out where he was at the time was always a little devastating. 

Draco shrugged, “If it bothered you that I occasionally make offhandedly offensive comments you would have stopped spending time with me. Besides, those glasses cannot possible be the correct kind for you. Don’t you need to have them at least adjusted to your eyesight? When was the last time you did that?”

He groaned and Draco just grinned at him smugly, clearly pleased at having known, somehow, that Harry wouldn’t have even thought to do something so mundane as have his eyes checked. “Fine, I haven’t in…I don’t remember. If it concerns you that badly we can talk to Professor Snape about it. Or Madame Pomfrey…”

“Definitely Professor Snape. The spells for it that Pomfrey might know are a lot more finicky than the potions are, and I trust potions more as a rule. Besides, Professor Snape actually likes you now, remember?” Draco told him. Harry strongly suspected that he didn’t trust anyone as much as he trusted Snape, and really Harry could sort of understand why. “So we’ll go after dinner to speak with him then?”

Harry shook his head forlornly, “Do we have to? I mean, it’s waited this long, can’t it wait just a bit longer?”

The look Draco was giving him now was probably the sternest look Harry thought he had ever seen on his friends face. “Harry, your health is nothing to fool around with. It might not seem like a big deal to you, but it is to me. Hermione and Ronald would probably even agree with me. As, I’m certain, would most of our friends.”

“Ugh,” he grumbled, rubbing his hand over his face, “Fine! We can go after dinner. But you have to be the one to tell Hermione your brilliant plan and defend the magical methods of correcting eyesight if she gets snippy.” 

When Draco had the nerve to smile smugly at him and then gently tug his glasses off his face, Harry glared at him. Draco just kept smiling and said, “You look better without your glasses covering up half of your face anyways. And you’ll be able to see well again. I don’t really see the downside in all of this.”

“Of course you don’t. You’re not the one going to ask Professor Snape of all people a favor. Also, they do not cover up half of my face. You do realize I can’t see all that well without them, right?” Harry asked when Draco still just seemed to be studying his face without returning his glasses.

Giving Harry’s glasses back, though he seemed to be doing it rather reluctantly, Draco pouted at him, “There you go ruining all of my fun again.”

Harry just slipped his glasses back on to his face, “Uh huh. Did you actually want to study or were just trying to find a good opportunity to insist I get my eyes fixed?”

This time the look he received from Draco was sheepish, “Well, you know, it was just too perfect of an opportunity to pass up. So yes, I’ve sort of been plotting this since earlier today in potions. Honestly, I wish it had occurred to me sooner. It’s simply ridiculous that someone hasn’t been making sure you were keeping up with your eyesight. I’m not above guilt tripping Granger and Weasley to my side of this either, mind you.”

Draco, Harry had noticed, now only called Hermione and Ron by their last names when he was cross, all though he was calling Ron ‘Ronald’ which was probably just as bad. He suspected that Draco had found out that Ron hated it and was using it to annoy him.

“Why is it that nothing that you just said actually surprised me?” Harry inquired as they got up and started making their way slowly across the grounds towards the Great Hall for dinner.

“Because you know me well enough to expect such things from me? Really Harry, do keep up, won’t you?” Draco said, bumping his shoulder into Harry’s.

Harry bumped him back, “Yes well, I suppose it’s good that you give me these reminders that you’re still a prat. Otherwise I might be lulled into a false sense of security or something. Can’t have anyone actually believing you’re really just a nice person underneath the former icy exterior.”

“Yes, exactly! Now you’re getting it! It’s bad enough that people think I’m approachable now. And being your friend has given me way too many good points. If I didn’t know any better I would think you lot are actually trying to turn me into a better person,” Draco whined, clearly complaining just to do so.

Shaking his head, Harry replied as they walked through the Entrance Hall, “You are absolutely ridiculous. Remind me why I spend so much time with you again?”

“That’s easy,” Blaise said, throwing an arm around Harry’s shoulders and surprising him as he and Pansy walked beside the two of them into the Great Hall. “Mostly you spend so much time with him because he’s a potions genius. And his dashing good looks probably help too. You know, if you go for that whole pointy ferret thing.”

“Blaise! I will kill you!” Draco said rather violently, trying to reach around Harry to strangle his friend. Blaise darted off quickly once he realized the danger, and Draco continued to mumble about Blaise being “the absolute worst friend ever, the bloody wanker.” 

Harry just kept patting Draco on the shoulder soothingly in an attempt to keep him from going after the other boy. Draco sulked often enough that Harry was actually fairly well versed in dealing with this version of him, and usually when the blond boy sulked he did so for lengthy periods of time, which was why Harry was actually very surprised when Draco perked up immediately at spotting Hermione at the table. Draco took Harry’s usual seat next to Hermione leaving Harry sitting between him and Pansy which was rather awkward since he didn’t spend all that much time with Pansy. 

“So Hermione, Harry said that if I brought this up with you and could convince you to my side, I would get my way,” Draco told the girl ecstatically, completely ignoring the rather loud thunk that Harry’s head made as it connected with the table. 

While the two of them enthused about the possibilities magic brought to healing and Hermione completely agreed with Draco about Harry needing his eyes fixed, Pansy turned to him sympathetically. “You know he’s only pushing so hard about it because he cares so much for you. Besides, getting rid of those things can only be good for you. They hide how green your eyes are. Such a pity. And anyways, don’t be afraid to demand stuff back from him.” 

The last comment came with a wink that Harry found mildly disturbing. “Honestly, I’m more worried about asking Professor Snape for help than anything. He barely tolerated me before, and now he might actually like me a little. I sort of don’t want to risk messing that up. And besides, I’m used to my glasses. They’re normal for me.”

“I hate to be the one to tell you this, but your version of normal is pretty far from what might actually be considered some form of normality,” Pansy said, considering for a moment, “You’re making other changes in your life, in everyone’s lives really, so why not make this one too? Maybe, while we’re at it, we should take you clothes shopping and give you a haircut.” She reached up and tried to ruffle his hair, only to have Harry dodge and do his best to twist his upper body around Draco so she couldn’t reach him.

“Absolutely not. Draco, tell Pansy she’s insane. My hair is not to be touched! And I don’t need clothes! I already have some!” Harry complained, still glaring rather vehemently at Pansy as she smiled innocently at him. He pointed accusingly at her, “You just stay all the way over there!”

Most of the people at their table watched on with barely masked amusement, some of them not even bothering to hide their grins. Draco, however, was giving Pansy a look that was perhaps even colder than Harry’s. “Pansy, if you so much as touch one hair on his head I’ll use that lovely little curse that has you spilling all of your deepest secrets for three days on you. And quite antagonizing him. You’re ruining all of my good work on trying to get him to go see Professor Snape!”

“Fine,” she sniffed indignantly. “You never let me do anything amusing anymore.”

Draco continued glaring at her as he patted Harry reassuringly on the closest arm that was twined around him, “If you want a pet project, take on Neville or Seamus. Merlin knows they both need help. Or you could always work on Ronald.” 

Harry stubbornly refused to sit next to Pansy to eat after that, considering that he firmly believed that she wouldn’t give up that easily, whether Draco had demanded she do it or not. Finally, Draco stopped trying to convince him it was safe and switched seats with him so that they could actually eat their food. Draco hadn’t been displeased by the contact, as far as Harry could tell, especially because they were still sitting a lot closer than they strictly needed to. Harry knew that Draco liked him, at least to some extent, and it was becoming more and more apparent just how much he liked him. 

He picked at his food longer than was really necessary; really, trying to avoid the inevitable now that Hermione had gone to Draco’s side of the whole eyesight thing. Draco finally got tired of watching him, Harry thought, as he was all but dragged out of his seat and then out of the Hall as Draco decided he was clearly done eating.

“Really Harry, I don’t understand why you’re so worried about this. It’s not as though he’s going to be upset that you’re actually taking care of yourself,” Draco told him, channeling Hermione’s favorite no nonsense voice.

“Hmph, that’s easy for you to say. You’re his favorite! The likely hood of me getting yelled at for not mentioning it sooner is really high. He’ll say things like ‘idiot boy’ and stare accusingly at me,” Harry grumbled. He might grumble, but he certainly wasn’t whining. He left that sort of thing to Draco.

Draco merely adjusted his grip on Harry’s wrist, moving his hand down so he was clutching Harry’s hand instead, and continued to tug him along. “You’re starting to sound like me. Maybe you really are spending too much time with me. That doesn’t matter though. What does matter is that I’ll tell him off if he starts in on you too much. He wouldn’t be Snape if he didn’t give you crap from time to time.”

Harry still wasn’t sure the whole thing was a good idea, and was actually rather convinced that he would rather be just about anywhere else when they stood in front of Snape’s door so Draco could knock gently. The door swung open almost immediately, Snape standing on the other side of it and ushering the two of them in. 

“Ms. Granger stopped me in the hall before dinner to inform me that you two might be coming to hand in your chosen classrooms and some possible paintings,” he told them, sitting down behind his desk and watching them curiously. “Draco, what on earth did you do to Potter to get him so flustered?”

The blond boy had dropped into one of the chairs, Harry following suit, and was now digging in his bag for the requested lists. He glanced up at his professor and then over to Harry before shaking his head and pulling out the right papers. Sliding them to Snape, he said, “He’s having a little anxiety over asking you for help.”

A calmly spoken, “I see,” was the only response as he continued to look over the lists. Of course, that didn’t do much to help Harry’s nerves. “The only classrooms you haven’t completely settled on are the public common rooms?”

Draco nodded, “We’re fairly sure we’re going to use the two marked with stars, but we wanted to see how doing the first couple of rooms was going to work out first.”

“A good idea, indeed. Alright then, what is it exactly that you are dragging him into that seems to be causing such distress? You do realize, Draco, that if you want him to be of any use you’ll have to stop putting him in such situations,” the Potions Master told them in a way that made Harry think that he knew something that Harry clearly did not. It was a little rude, he thought, that they were talking about him rather than to him, but Harry didn’t want to be the one to actually ask for anything, so he ignored it.

Smiling brightly at their teacher, Draco said, “Well, since we’re learning about more complex healing potions, it got me thinking about Harry’s eyesight, and those atrocious glasses…”

“My glasses are not atrocious!” Harry huffed indignantly.

The blond continued on as though he hadn’t even heard the interruption, “So I thought I would bring it up to him that there were ways to correct vision magically. I won the argument about whether or not it was a valid concern when he couldn’t even tell me when the last time he got his eyes checked was.”

Still fidgeting, Harry mumbled about how it hadn’t been a priority and glared at his friend for the wording. He was studiously avoiding looking at Snape, certain that he was about to get an earful about how he was an imbecile for not keeping up with something like that. Of course, ever contrite, Snape did something entirely different instead.

“A product, I presume, of those blasted muggles Albus left you with. I wonder if Minerva will let me send the Howler or insist on sending it herself,” Snape muttered, looking downright wrathful when Harry finally looked up.

“Sir?” Harry inquired a bit uncertainly. If Snape was about to start a rant, he didn’t really want to interrupt, especially since he seemed more interested in cursing out other people rather than Harry for this one.

Getting up, Snape gestured for them to do the same, “Come along Harry, it is high time that someone actually paid attention to your health.”

Draco didn’t look all that concerned, tugging Harry to his feet and leading him so that they were following Snape. Harry, not at all certain what was going on, followed along with him. “Sir? Where exactly are we going?”

“To the hospital wing so Poppy can check you over. I am going to insist that a full exam be done, and that she check your eyes as well so that we might work on a solution to that too. I will also be talking to Minerva about this. As your former Head of House, she should have had this done years ago,” he informed them, seeming rather upset about the whole thing. 

Harry looked to Draco as they entered the hospital wing, his confusion no doubt showing on his face. Harry had never thought that Snape would care enough to make such a fuss over him, especially not to go so far as to be angry at other people for not taking better care of him. Draco just smiled reassuringly at him as Professor Snape spoke with Madame Pomfrey in low tones. 

After a few moments the two of them turned back to Draco and Harry and Snape said, “I’m going to floo the Headmistress, I’ll be right back. Poppy is going to start casting diagnostic spells to make sure your eyes are the only things that have suffered so much. Try not to cause too much of a fuss.” Harry wondered why Snape would think he would cause trouble when so far he’d just let them drag him along, and then he realized the last sentence had been directed at a mildly irate looking Draco.

While Pomfrey led Harry to a bed and began casting spells, he could hear Draco start mumbling about idiots that didn’t even have the good sense to keep up with such simple things as Harry’s health. Apparently Draco was beginning to realize just how many people hadn’t ever really looked into his health since he’d started Hogwarts, and the other boy’s opinion of his muggle relatives was apparently worse than even Harry’s own opinion of them. It was nice to know that Draco cared so much about his health, but it was also a little odd for Harry since unless he’d been injured playing quidditch or saving the world from maniacs, almost no one had really paid attention to it.

When Professor Snape came back out of the office, Harry wasn’t sure he’d ever been so happy to see the other man. He’d been trying to direct calming looks Draco’s way, but the boy had decided that he needed to scrutinize every detail of the exam he was undergoing. The tension in the room had become so palpable that Harry was becoming even more agitated as the seconds wore on. He was fairly certain that Draco, or perhaps even Professor Snape, was going to blow up and start yelling at any moment and that was something he really didn’t want to deal with. It was bad enough he was being prodded with a wand every so many seconds. 

Before either of them could get out of hand, the headmistress swept into the room looking rather exasperated. She and Snape had a rather intense staring match for a moment before she turned to Harry, “You have my deepest and most sincere apologies, Mr. Potter, for not inquiring more on the circumstances of your muggle relatives and how they treated you, as well as for not ensuring that you had been checked for medical issues. I should have known better than to take Albus’s word for it when he assumed you had been at least moderately well taken care of.”

Harry shrugged, “It’s alright really. I don’t blame anyone for it. It’s not as though I was actually telling people what my family was like. And it honestly just never really came up as an issue for me.”

He realized as soon as it was out of his mouth that he should have left that last sentence out. The room was suddenly a lot louder than Harry thought it should be, Snape and Draco both loudly protesting the statement and continuing on in such a way that Harry actually winced and ducked his head. It quieted after a moment, and Harry looked up to see that Madame Pomfrey had pulled the curtain and cast a silencing spell. 

“They have a point Harry dear,” she told him quietly, “We all should have paid better attention. I had you here more than once, and I should have looked you over more thoroughly. But we cannot change the past, so I can only do my best for you now. I imagine they’ll settle down rather quickly, at least for the moment. They’ll be ranting about this for weeks, I’m sure.”

He just shrugged his shoulders again, not really having a good response for that. He really didn't blame anyone for not looking into it, especially since he had never brought it up as an issue himself. If anything, they probably should be yelling at him for not bringing it up sooner. He honestly wasn't sure why they were making such a fuss about it. It wasn't as though he had been sick often or anything, so he couldn't really understand what was causing such an uproar about it. When he said that to Pomfrey, she actually stopped what she was doing to stare at him, which just confused him more.

"Oh Harry. I doubt it will be just them upset about it. Your other friends will likely want to weigh in as well. They're making such a fuss, dear, because they care so deeply about you," she resumed her tests then, going on to say, "Normally, small children go to a healer at least once a year just for a checkup, and continue it at least until they are out of school. I think that we all assumed that your muggle relatives would take care of such a thing. Knowing that they didn't... well, I imagine at least Mr. Malfoy will be even more protective of you than he has already been this year. It looks as though you have another advocate in Professor Snape."

Well, that wasn't exactly going to be fun. He couldn't really imagine either one being super protective of him, but in some ways Draco already was. Dinner had shown him that much. Hermione and Ron were likely to go the same way as well. He vaguely wondered if they would even let him leave the common room by himself after this; he hoped so.

After a few more spells the healer picked up a piece of parchment that she had had a quill taking notes on while she was casting her spells. She looked it over for a moment and then poked her head past the curtain, trying to assess whether or not it was safe to open it again, he presumed. She left him there for a moment, and Harry wondered if she was going out to yell at them herself, and sort of hoped they would. If anyone had a right to be angry about it, shouldn't it be him?

A few minutes later the curtain opened and the silencing spell was lifted, leaving Harry staring at everyone for a moment. Snape and Draco both looked as though they were fighting saying something they might regret. It looked as though McGonagall and Pomfrey had ganged up on the two of them so they would settle down.

"Now," Pomfrey said, giving the two other men in the room a stern look, "You could use a few nutrient potions that I'm going to recommend you take twice a week for at least two months to get your system where it should be. The only other thing really is your eyesight, and quite frankly I have no idea how you see anything with as bad as it has gotten."

There was a general mumble of discontent from all three of the other people in the room, but Harry just nodded. Snape was the one to speak up, after that, “If you have the exact information on his eyes, I can begin brewing a potion to begin healing them. It might take months and several potions to heal them completely, so it’s best to start working on it as soon as possible.”

The next several minutes was spent instructing Harry about when to take the nutrient potions and when he needed to come in for Pomfrey to check on his progress. Then Professor Snape explained a little about which potions he thought would best be suited to the situation. When they were finally allowed to leave the Hospital Wing, Harry was more than a little tired.

“If I had realized all of that,” Draco told him as they made their way to their common room, “I would have forced you to have a checkup ages ago. You know, before you faced down one of the most dangerous wizards of all time with the eyesight of a bloody bat. I’m sort of shocked you’re still alive, really.”

“I guess my body is just used to over compensating for it. Anyways, it doesn’t really matter. We’re taking care of it now, right?” Harry said, hoping he would be able to steer Draco onto other topics, though he knew Hermione would want to know what happened as soon as they entered the common room.

Draco stopped in the middle of the corridor, “Yes we are, but Harry, it really should have been done years ago. Your bloody muggles should have handled it the muggle way at the very least! It was serious neglect Harry, and that they didn’t notice here either… I’m not really sure how you’re so calm about this. I’m not. I’d rather like to hex your muggle family, at least. And maybe the former Headmaster since he managed to convince everyone that you had some sort of loving family or some such shit.”

He didn’t really have a good response to that either, he knew. Somehow he didn’t think anything he had to say on the matter would actually come out as reassuring to Draco. “Look, this will probably make it worse but, I’m going to tell you anyways. I need you to understand. Can you promise me that you’ll at least try not to blow up about it?”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter guys! I know it's pretty short, sorry about that.

Draco wasn’t sure what exactly Harry was about to tell him, but the wording made him think that he was going to have a hard time not becoming excessively angry about it. “I promise I’ll try not to get too upset on your behalf,” was as good as Harry was going to get on this one.

Harry nodded, looking nervous for a moment as he pulled them into an empty classroom. “Alright, so the thing is, growing up, I learned at a very young age not to expect anything from my Aunt and Uncle. Yeah, it was probably a really gross neglect, but the only thing I understood that young was that they didn’t care about me and I was unimportant. So I just never expected anything. When I got here everyone treated me like the boy-who-lived but not like a real person. More often than not I was everyone’s idealistic person. I was your rival, Ron’s famous best friend, Snape’s enemy’s son. It got a little out of hand, and I learned that in some ways Hogwarts wasn’t any different than my Aunt and Uncle’s house. Things rarely worked out the way I expected them to, and people’s own expectations of me were constantly unrealistic. So I still just…don’t expect anything. I’m not brushing it off or anything, it just doesn’t really occur to me that I should really care about it.”

Obviously, Harry had been right. The amount of neglect that he’d been through growing up, and that most of the people here at the school had actually made worse had Draco feeling rather ill. He was upset, angry even, but he put all of that aside because of the way Harry was watching him. The look he was faced with was full of uncertainty, clearly awaiting a judgment for the way he’d been trained to think. Draco knew that Harry had frequently saved their world growing up, whether he had known it or not, and that he constantly put others before himself. He resolved that he would put Harry before himself from now on, because clearly someone needed to, and why shouldn’t it be him. 

Instead of the judgment he knew Harry was expecting, or even the anger that he wanted desperately to unleash on those muggles, and even on himself and other people in Harry’s life, Draco pulled the smaller boy into his arms. Draco honestly didn’t know if the action was more for himself or for Harry, and at the moment he didn’t care. It was nice to hold the other boy in his arms, even if Harry was likely to pull away at any moment. 

Harry drew back a few seconds later, though he didn’t go very far, just pulling back enough so he could see Draco’s face. “You’re not angry?”

“Oh, I’m angry. Angry at the muggles, at myself, at everyone here that was stupid enough not to look into your circumstances. But being angry isn’t going to help anything, and you don’t need me to be angry. I can’t help being upset, really, but I can do my best to put that aside. It isn’t going to help you if I go on a rampage hexing everyone I’m upset with. Of course, you should know that everyone is going to be excessively over protective of you now, at least those of them you let know about this,” he replied, staring into the startling green eyes intently and hoping that Harry understood what he’d said and didn’t take it the wrong way.

Harry just nodded and let his head fall back to Draco’s shoulder, seeming to allow himself to curl further into Draco, “Thank you. I’d like to try and keep it as quiet as we can. Just Hermione and Ron, I think, need to know about all of it. Everyone else can just be told we’re fixing my eyes if they ask. I really want to avoid answering a ton of questions if I can. It’s not really anyone else’s business, anyways.”

Draco tugged his fingers gently through the mass of black hair, resting his cheek against the top of Harry’s head. “If too many people start asking questions, we can just ask Greg to follow you around looking threatening for a while. I think he’s getting bored since I told him he had to start being nice to the younger students,” he said, hoping for a smile at the very least for his efforts.

Instead, Harry chuckled, “I suppose we could resort to that. I guess we should get back before Hermione sends out a search party.”

“Probably a good idea,” Draco agreed, a little upset about letting him go, but doing it anyways. “I won’t tell anyone you don’t want me to about today. If you really don’t want to tell Ronald and Hermione everything, at least not yet, it would be alright.”

“Honestly, it would probably be best to tell them now while there’s so much else going on so that they won’t be able to focus solely on it. Besides, Hermione’s almost as good at telling if there’s something wrong with me as you are, so it won’t do any good to try and keep it from her, even for a few days. By the way, does Ron know you call him that?” Harry asked curiously.

Snickering, Draco tried to look innocent, “Oh, he knows, but Hermione keeps insisting that he shouldn’t complain because it is technically his name. I don’t think Ronald and I are ever going to be able to get along if we don’t antagonize each other occasionally, but at least we aren’t doing it violently anymore.”

He hadn’t missed the compliment Harry had given him, even if the other boy didn’t realize it was a compliment. Being told that one of Harry’s oldest friends wasn’t as good at telling if there was something wrong with Harry as Draco was made for a rather lovely ego boost. When he’d set out to prove to Harry that they could be good together, he had never imagined that it would end up quite like this. It was more than he had ever dared hope for.

“I guess that’s true,” Harry murmured as they wandered back towards their common room yet again. “I’m just glad that you two aren’t trying to make me choose.”

Draco tilted his head, “I wouldn’t have done that. Ronald and I actually discussed that at one point, and we both agreed quite some time ago that neither one of us would ever do that to you. He might be an idiot, but he tries to be a good friend.” 

They were right outside the common room now and he turned to look more closely at Harry. He looked tired and worn around the edges like the hospital wing fiasco had taken a lot out of him. It probably had, since Draco himself was feeling the wear from the situation, so Harry must have been feeling it at least three times as much. “Ready?” he asked quietly.

“As I’ll ever be. Hermione and Ron will probably be the only ones really expecting an explanation. Mostly everyone is used to us disappearing and showing up again hours later,” Harry told him as they made their way into the common room. He turned out to be right; almost no one even turned to look at who was coming in the door. Ron and Hermione were waiting at their usual couch, looking a little anxious. 

Hermione took one look at Harry and moved over to him, fluttering her hands slightly around his shoulders. “Oh Harry, are you alright?”

Harry mustered up a small smile that was not at all convincing, “I’m alright ‘Mione, really. It was just a long, what hour? Hour and a half?” 

Clearly not convinced at all by Harry, Hermione rounded on Draco, “Well?”

“Ya know,” Harry muttered behind her, glaring at her back, “I’m right here. You could just ask me what happened.”

She turned back to Harry, patting his shoulder and then maneuvering him and pushing him slightly until he was sitting on the couch. He just continued to glare at her while Draco started telling her what had happened. By the time he had finished outlining the event, Ron was cursing out the muggles every bit as thoroughly as Snape and Draco had done. Harry’s eyelids were drooping closed, the boy clearly in need of rest. 

Hermione took a deep breath, then said, “I should have suspected. We all should have, really. The important thing is that he’s being looked after now.” And Draco agreed really, that was the most important thing. Of course, that wasn’t going to stop him from being angry about it all.


End file.
